i’m back from my wanderings.

has “non smoking” become the standard for hotel rooms or not? every hotel i’ve stayed in for absolutely yonks has been non smoking by default, so much so that it’s dropped off my list of things to ask. salisbury tourist information get no brownie points whatsoever for recommending the byways guest house to us. we could have lived with the royal portraits on every vertical surface and the misworking plumbing system (it must have been broken - they couldn’t have intended to switch the radiators on in the middle of a baking august night, could they?) but the room that smelt like an ashtray did my head in literally as well as figuratively.

i don’t like planning ahead on accommodation too much, what if we decide to change our travel ideas mid journey like we did this week? i like the holiday feeling of having more degrees of freedom than usual - we could go anywhere and see anything that comes to mind - but it’s a bad idea when you pick a busy cathedral city and end up sleeping in an ashtray.

(darren wants me to add an additional plumbing complaint about the loud crap shower - i’ve never heard plumbing so loud and on my part the shower looked too manky to get in anyway. oh and notes taped to the wall saying “run tap for several minutes to get hot water” do not inspire confidence in guests. and also we should have realised that something was off when they insisted we pay the bill at the beginning of our stay. i don’t want to make it sound like the bates motel and it did partially redeem itself by serving a decent breakfast but i shan’t be taking a room unseen and unprebooked again if i can avoid it.)