Andie and I are having a few nights away from home as we head up to Scotland (and back) for my friend Cat’s wedding. Cat lives in Aberdeen, so it’s quite a trek from the south coast, but we’ve made very good progress today — we got up to Perth by mid-afternoon, leaving us just a couple of hours’ drive to do to get to Aberdeen tomorrow.
Tonight we’re staying in a Premier Inn in Perth. I’d always assumed that Premier Inns were cheap-and-cheerful affairs on a similar level to Travelodge’s grotty-but-convenient charms, but I’ve actually been very impressed so far. The room is really nice — the bed is big (if surprisingly high off the floor), there’s a chaise-longue for reclining on (or for allowing a third person to sleep in the room, should that become necessary), the TV is a nice big Samsung HDTV (and even has extra HDMI, composite, audio and USB inputs built into the wall so you can connect your own devices) and the bathroom is pleasantly shiny, albeit somewhat short on pinchable cosmetic goods and sporting a public toilet-style sheet-by-sheet bog roll dispenser rather than regular toilet rolls.
The restaurant is dubbed Thyme and is open to members of the public who aren’t staying in the hotel. Normally I’d question whether or not anyone would ever want to come to a hotel restaurant if they aren’t staying in the hotel, but after most of a day’s worth of driving, Andie and I decided we didn’t really want to go out in search of dinner, so we went to give it a go — and, you know what? It was actually really, really good. Like, surprisingly so; it wasn’t what I’d call “cheap” but it also wasn’t extortionate hotel prices and, more importantly, it was actually excellent quality food: Andie had a frighteningly gigantic burger while I had, I think, the best rack of ribs I’ve ever had. Not bad for a chain restaurant in a cheapo chain hotel.
It’s almost a shame we don’t have more time to spend just relaxing here, though thankfully we did arrive early enough to be able to just chill out for a few hours without feeling like we immediately need to go to bed. It’s always nice to get away from the daily grind and have a bit of a change of scenery now and then, even if you’re not really doing anything specific while you’re away from home.
Of course, tomorrow we are doing something specific — we’re celebrating my friend’s marriage after a couple of hours’ driving — but for tonight, at least, we can just relax and enjoy that holiday-esque feeling of being far away from home in a comfortable room in a strange city. So I’m off to go and do just that, and try not to think about the exceedingly long drive back we have waiting for us on Tuesday!
Discover more from I'm Not Doctor Who
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
How did you know I was Sleepless in Perth – Western Australia/! We’ve also been driving driving. Did another trip up to Geraldton to the Latitude Gallery, and they took 8 of my larger paintings on a contract. I’m so happy. 😀 Now I have to send her my Artist’s CV and artistic statement, so I better get on with it. Have a great time up there in Perth, Scotland. 😀
Idea: How about – seeing you have so much spare time – you create a Blog called PETE’S STRIP and collate all your strips since you started them and post them there. Put a link to it from each Post so those of us Following you don’t have to go to your main site to access it – coz we’re lazy – and so it’s there to tempt newbies as well. And then you can so easily just print the whole thing off as a book to give to friends as pressies, and to sell to their friends and at comic Expos and markets and comic shops and gaming shops and online and … and … um … er … I’ve run out.
But seriously, it would be great to see all the strips in continuity, to scroll down them into the past, then back up them again, seeing the mood and topic changes, coupled with the wit , irony, farce, bawdiness, and silliness that is such a revealing part of you.
Just an idea, and one you’ve probably already thought about. 😀
I thought you’d been quiet recently, but I happened to check my comment spam folder today and lo and behold, there were a bunch of comments from you! I don’t know how you ended up flagged as spam, but I (think I) have rectified that now. Apologies for the long silence; I simply wasn’t seeing your comments at all. Hopefully that won’t happen again.
Heh. This would be a fun idea, though I can’t help but feel a lot of these strips are far too riddled with in-jokes for general consumption! 🙂 Something to ponder though, at least.