About Time I Wrote Something!
Been back from Malta for a week - we came home a week early. Horrendous (to me) accommodation problems that started with arriving at 1am on the Sunday to be told they had no reservation for us! We should have had a 2 bedroomed apartment. The resort managed to find us a room with 2 single beds just for the night as someone was checking in later. I find hard to believe that people actually pay good money for the room. Curtains hanging off the track, loose ceiling tiles, paint & plaster flaking. At least the beds were clean & we were exhausted. Fared a little better later in the morning as the put is in a 1 bed apartment obviously recently decorated but also obviously designed for a wheelchair used with wide doorways, sliding doors & all sorts of aids in the bathroom. It was lovely but I just felt so guilty using it. But I'm sure that we wouldn't have been put there if a wheelchair user needed it. We could only stay there for 1 week & then they had no rooms. Each receptionist kept saying they had no reservation despite our confirmation received in February & the rep wasn't in until Monday. So DH got on o company who couldn't understand what had gone wrong & found ud another place for the following week. Saturday comes & we go to check in at the next place to be told they didn't have a reservation for us. Deja vu or what! Could we come back a bit later when the manager was there? Had coffee & ambled round, rang the complany again who couldn't understand what had gone wrong. We were definitely confirmed & she would ring the resort. Go back, no manager, still no reservation but they'd found us a room. It was being cleaned so we couldn't move in. It was disgusting! Real holidays from hell stuff as far as I'm concerned. Carpets everywhere were badly stained & dirty with food bits, double bed was 2 singles of different heights pushed together, shower curtain rail attached to the light fitting with string, rusty fridge with no useable door shelves, rusty cooker that was probably used to bake the loaves that went with the fishes, all surfaces peeling & worn & the taps were just coated with limescale as was the kettle. It was not the standard I've come to expect when I go on holiday. I just burst into tears & DH told reception it wasn't acceptable. All they could was say they would try & find us a nicer room in the morning. I wasn't going to take my shoes off let alone sleep in the bed so we went to the airport & paid to get on the next flight home.
The week we spent there was very nice. I got to see where my Mum was born & we went up Mt Etna on a day trip to Sicily. The Maltese people are so nice too although they are absolutely mad drivers. There is a saying in England they drive on the left, in Europe they drive on the right, in Malta they drive in the shade! It's true.
So now in correspondence with company to see what they are going to do about it. They have refunded what we spent on the holiday but DH is trying to get something for the extra airfares.
The upside is I came back to a letter about a job interview. Been unemployed for a year now although haven't been at work since March 2005. Scary. My redundancy insurance is about to run out so I need to find something sharp'ish. I decided to take a lump sum & small pension early in the end so have a nice chunky bank balance at the mo & my pension (haha) will start next month. The job is for admin or recptionist at a new 'hotel style nursing home'. Have no idea what the pay is, they don't seem to put it on job ads anymore. But anything is better than nothing.
DS has no job now. He got himself a new job, handed in his notice & then the new place rang & said their insurance complany would insure him as he's under 25. He asked if he could his old job, they had already replaced him but the boss said he'd see what he could do. Poor DS has heard nothing & the boss is never there when he rings so he's given that up as a bad job. He has managed to get temp work a few days but his finacee is really nagging him as they are saving to get married & his loss of earnings is affecting her savings plan! I want to shake her & say give him a break! But I say nothing.
What a tale of misery & woe!! Apart from my new obsession - my family tree. I love history & am finding it fascinating to see who my ancestors were & what they did. I'm coming across a few surprises with children being born in India & my grandfather (who died before I was born) moving in with another woman & changing his name & was awarded the Military Medal in WWI. Something else that keeps me glued to the PC!
The week we spent there was very nice. I got to see where my Mum was born & we went up Mt Etna on a day trip to Sicily. The Maltese people are so nice too although they are absolutely mad drivers. There is a saying in England they drive on the left, in Europe they drive on the right, in Malta they drive in the shade! It's true.
So now in correspondence with company to see what they are going to do about it. They have refunded what we spent on the holiday but DH is trying to get something for the extra airfares.
The upside is I came back to a letter about a job interview. Been unemployed for a year now although haven't been at work since March 2005. Scary. My redundancy insurance is about to run out so I need to find something sharp'ish. I decided to take a lump sum & small pension early in the end so have a nice chunky bank balance at the mo & my pension (haha) will start next month. The job is for admin or recptionist at a new 'hotel style nursing home'. Have no idea what the pay is, they don't seem to put it on job ads anymore. But anything is better than nothing.
DS has no job now. He got himself a new job, handed in his notice & then the new place rang & said their insurance complany would insure him as he's under 25. He asked if he could his old job, they had already replaced him but the boss said he'd see what he could do. Poor DS has heard nothing & the boss is never there when he rings so he's given that up as a bad job. He has managed to get temp work a few days but his finacee is really nagging him as they are saving to get married & his loss of earnings is affecting her savings plan! I want to shake her & say give him a break! But I say nothing.
What a tale of misery & woe!! Apart from my new obsession - my family tree. I love history & am finding it fascinating to see who my ancestors were & what they did. I'm coming across a few surprises with children being born in India & my grandfather (who died before I was born) moving in with another woman & changing his name & was awarded the Military Medal in WWI. Something else that keeps me glued to the PC!