The invasion of the French in Folkestone is quite prominent judging by the hotel I stayed in with my wife the other week was very amusing and described by one person who had stayed there the previous week as like the T V programme “Fawlty Towers”. He told the Reception Clerk this who thought it was a compliment. He obviously hadn’t seen Fawlty Towers!
Our room was very large with a 6 foot wide and a 3 foot wide bed. The furniture would have been described as dated and the wardrobe doors had a mind of their own and needed both hands to shut them and had you not put some pressure to the task, you found that both doors creaked open again. It was an ongoing battle and the only way to satisfy both you and the wardrobe was to slam the doors shut and the noise echoed around the room.
Our bathroom had no heating or shelves and the 2ft by 2ft shower cubicle had no shelf to place shower gel on or anything else you needed when having a shower. The hotel boasted two lifts and the one we guests had to use was quite frightening and if one can remember the “Open All Hours Till” that kept shutting violently, the inner doors of the lift had the same problem. It wasn’t a fast moving lift and held only three people at a time but tended to jump when it reached a floor. The outer door on each floor was very difficult to open and you needed to have muscles like Tarzan – not an easy task for a person with disabilities.
The hotel also had many passages and it reminded me of being aboard a Frigate. There were long narrow gangways with many steps going up and down. At night we could hear the lifts being used till 2 am in the morning. A Frenchman had bought the hotel in 2002 and one could forgive teething problems, but fourteen years is a long time to have a toothache!
There was another hotel at the other end of the Leas Promenade that we visited for morning coffee which had more or less the same problems also owned by the French. Apart from these things that were sent to try our patience and understanding was a commemorative metal arch “A Step Short Arch” to Honour the fallen in the Great War. Millions of soldiers stayed in Folkestone before being shipped out to France.
At the other end of the promenade were “The Talking Benches” a series of war time letters spoke when you approached – they were moving and a poignant reminder of the hardships during the first and second world wars and in some cases, they were praying and hoping to see their partners again. The soldiers fighting in a foreign field hoping to bring peace to the world while their partners were dodging the many bombs that were dropped onto English soil.
Britain’s Got Talent
Has ITV got its priorities wrong as there were more commercial breaks in the programme – they were lengthy breaks and most of them were longer than the persons who were performing their two minute stint. You could have boiled a kettle, had tea and eaten a sandwich while they put on the same boring adverts. So glad there is a mute button and with one click – it’s peaceful. Pick up the paper and continue with the crossword. ITV seems to be getting worse with their advertisement breaks and I wonder if there is any justification. There are more senior citizens who get their TV licence free of charge because people seem to live longer. I tried to ask the question – Do ITV have to pay to put on TV Programmes that they had originately broadcast themselves many years ago? I tried every available outlet belonging to ITV, but either they were reluctant or didn’t want to answer. Obviously they have something to hide or they would answer this simple question.
Excessive advertising has ruined viewing all ITV channels. Five breaks in an hours programme and sometimes the last break is squeezed in and starts when there is only seven minutes remaining – how ludicrous and greedy.