h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yet another guest has just told me what a nice life I have doing Bed and Breakfast. How once the guests have all left at 10 a.m. I have the rest of the day to myself. Yes, here I am at 10.15 a.m. lying on my sun lounger sipping a Pina Colada and reading my library book!

Upstairs the fairies are stipping the beds and remaking them with fresh sheets, pillow cases and duvet covers. They are putting out clean towels and bath mats and replenishing the trays with clean cups and saucers, new sachets of tea, coffee and hot chocolate and Kit-Kats. They are cleaning the bogs and basins and baths, empying the bins of unidentified, rotting bits of food left by the guests and hoovering the carpets. While the downstairs fairies are clearing the breakfast table of mangled bits of toast and marmalade, grapefruit skins and empty cereal packets, loading the dishwasher and getting the first of the three loads of washing out of the washing machine and on to the line.

With a bit of luck they will have ironed all the linen by about three o'clock and I will be ready to greet the next lot of guests with a tray of tea and home made cake as they arrive!

Oh it's a great life unless your guests are the "hard of thinking" variety.

Hi Carole, Just worked out your location and checked out your web site, looks really nice, like the Apprentice Room. If my wife and I visit your area we will book with you and promise not to make any remarks about what an easy life you must have(but only if we can have one of your Pina Coladas)

Simetra

You are very welcome

Carole,

Most husbands think like that too, if the wife is at home and he is out, working or otherwise

I hope there are some rewards that make it worth the effort?

At least you have guests - running such an establishment with no guests would be a bit boring and expensive!


Websailor

It's better than some jobs. Ever watch "Dirty Jobs" on the Discovery Channel? There's some nasty nasty stuff there.

Hi Carole,

I could not agree with you more.

For some reason, when I first came to England, my eldest son thought it would be a good idea for me to run a B and B at a town near the channel Tunnel.

I looked at him in complete disbelief. All my life I have HATED housework. I love cooking, but I loathe housework.. He was not joking either!1.

So my sympathies are entirely with you my dear. I am intrigued with your website. How does one find it I wonder?

You have my utmost admiration/

Christiane
Also Ran1 <schooloffish<

Hi everyone

Yes it is not the worst job in the world I must agree and it does have its compensations - like today we decided we would just go out for the day and not work at all - I couldn't do that if I worked for someone else could I?

The Web site, AR, is theoldforgebb.co.uk - hope you like it.
I was interested to hear that you had a B & B in Kent. We moved from Kent - were you in Dover? Oh, I have just re-read your entry and see that you decided not to do that - good thinking!

You have to like people too - because some of them are very hard to like! Actually I have been doing this for 13 years now and am getting increasingly less tolerant so I think it is nearly time to stop doing it. When you begin to feel like that I think that is the time to end it.

My dear Carole,

What a lovely website. that sounds really great.

If ever we travel down to Cornwall again we shall have to go past you and say Hi. Both my brother and my son smoke, so I am afrais thaey would not be very welcome!!.

Good to hear from you. I had my 70th birthday party at a lovely old house in Wellington. My children booked the whole house for the weekend. We were twenty sleeping there, and then on the Sunday they gave me a party with 100 guests. It really was grand and we had a marvellous. Time. The last time I have had all my family together.

Keep going my dear!! It is a lovely part of the world.

Christiane
Also Ran1