A quick hello from Coventry
No, I haven’t been sent to Coventry. I’ve come here of my own accord (ho ho!).
I’ve been stewing a blog on the Iran situation for a few days, but just haven’t had time to complete the post and put it up. It’ll have to wait, I’m afraid. I’m currently at a conference of UK cluster coordinators at a hotel in Coventry, so don’t have time to write a longer post.
It’s a stimulating conference, but my hotel room is FREEZING. It has a small radiator and the heating goes off at midnight and doesn’t come back on until 5 a.m. I sat and watched a movie on my laptop last night and by the time I went to bed I was chilled through. I did not warm up again until I had a shower when I got up.
Other conference goers report that their rooms are far too hot.
So think twice before staying at the Britannia Hotel on Fairfax Street in Coventry.
Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, cluster coordinator, conference, Coventry
5 comments
You ca’t say you weren’t warned about the heating problems, Barney. The hotel’s website has a a whole section about its disabled facilities.
Maybe, Barney, walking into the hotel is run by time bandits, and you’ve slipped back a couple of centuries. It happened to me in the Cotwolds. David
Certainly some of the facilities were disabled, Steve, and the heating seemed to be one of them. On the second night I found that the heating went off at 11 p.m., so anyone who goes late to bed is in for a cold welcome.
However, the heating is patchy. There are some rooms that are permanently too hot. There are places where an over zealous airconditioning system seems to be running. The windows don’t keep the wind out… And the hotel is close to Coventry’s night clubs, whose patrons seem to think that they cannot go home at 4 in the morning without letting everyone in the neighbourhood know about it.
Did I use the word “neighbourhood”? The hotel is across the road from Coventry bus station and close to the elevated ring road. It is also close to Coventry’s wonderful cathedral and the university campus. And, yes, it’s well placed for various forms of public transport and easy to get to by car - except that I always get lost in the twists and turns of Coventry’s ring road, designed in the era when everything had to give way for the car, but nobody thought about how strangers to the city could find their way around in the absence of sat nav.
Time bandits, David? It seems like it when one goes into the hotel. The carpets are from the 1970s, the wallpaper comes from a used-wallpaper warehouse - and it is peeling off the walls in places. The lighting in some of the public rooms is dim - but not in the way that makes it cosy and romantic. It’s dim and dismal.
One gets the sense of that the company that owns the hotel wishes to keep its costs down and its revenue up…
The hotel would make a great set for a TV show set in the 1970s.
Ha,ha,ha. Well we got a family room with two bedrooms. The rooms were nice and toasty. However, as we are at it, let’s not mention the looks and comfort of the bed, bed sheets and bed spread. I guess working for CMD does not help, i can spot the most diminute spot of dust!
I’m very glad that your rooms were warm, Laura. The heating in that hotel is really patchy.
Anyway, we all survived.
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