No I don't wish to be in the background of your insta snapshot of your matcha latte or whatever. Nor do I want me and my child to be featured in your shots of the hotel pool. Is this really that difficult?
Last night I saw the new, new moon With the old moon in her arm
And that is the sign since we were born
That means there'll be a deadly storm
Hairdresser tells me she doesn't believe anything on the internet anymore because it's all faked.
Hotels. Where you can go from the sauna, to your room, which is also kept as hot as a sauna at all times!
Not much choice in the matter!
Surely it's beyond obvious that blackout blinds should be standard on every cabin and hotel window. Yet cabins are particularly bad offenders for this oversight.
It's very strange how every holiday cabin you stay at has chosen not to invest in window blinds that actually keep out any light.
"On the way from mythology to logistics thought has lost the element of self-reflection and today machinery disables men even as it nurtures them."
Theodor Adorno, Philosophical Fragments
"There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen."
Usually attributed to Lenin, though no evidence he actually said it.
"Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral"
Melvin Kranzberg
"The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear."
Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks
All Points North by Simon Armitage
"There is no such joy in the tavern as upon the road thereto"
Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian
Certainly it could be a lot worse. I appreciate that often staff just do not know the answer yet and work hard to try and get alternatives at short notice. But there's obvious problems with preparedness, single points of failure and clear, accurate, information about the process.
All this highlights the general lack of user/customer consideration and service design in these situations.
Despite all the associated costs, stress and inconvenience, I will maybe get my train ticket refunded and that's it.
22:45 Get picked up. 23:30 Get home.
22:15 Wait outside the station, lots of people ask if I am waiting for the rail replacement bus. I do not see any signs of any buses yet.
Google maps did not understand the closures enough to warn in advance. Diversion signs were confusing.
22:00 There are lots of road closures for maintenance so what should have been a 40 or 45 minute drive ends up taking much longer.
21:30 My wife sets off to pick me up. I go for a pint.
Have to decide whether to wait and hope, try to get a taxi (expensive and probably will not be refunded), stay with friends (it's late, not sure what they're up to and so on) or my wife to come and pick me up.
21:25 Ask staff if there will be a bus service, "they haven't organised anything yet, very sorry but we have no information".
21:15 Arrive at Manchester. All trains north to Preston cancelled.
Have to decide quick as trains are in a few minutes. 20:30 Decide to try Manchester.
Could get a train to Liverpool or Manchester, which are at least a bit closer to Preston. Then try to get back from there.
Probably a bus or taxi will be arranged eventually but no clear guarantee given and no idea how long it could take.
Alternatives not arranged or at least started on before cancelling so no clear information or next steps given. Told to just wait.
The problem was apparently north of Wigan, where the train does usually stop, so why not continue at least to there? No explanation given.
UK travel woes last night. 18:30 Train from London to Preston. 20:25 Train stopped at Crewe, which it does not usually and cancelled.