Well, here I am home again. What a saga , the holiday was.
I knew when I booked the coach that I would be sitting next to a stranger for the journey. I got on the coach and sat next to a lady who appeared to be in her 80’s. She said her name was Stella.
She told me that she was pleased to meet me and wouldn’t impose on me in any way and wouldn’t chat too much either. The coach took off on our journey and she didn’t stop talking
.Every time she spoke, she tapped my arm (I am bruised !)
We stopped in Burnham on Sea for lunch and I found somewhere for a cup of tea and made my way back to the coach…I met Stella who asked me to help her as she could hardly walk and had a zimmer frame. She moaned about the kerbs and how there were no toilets in the town and nowhere to sit down…
At the Hotel I had a lovely room with a double bed. Dinner was nice, although not a lot of choice and who sat next to me…Stella…more bruises. She complained about the food but kept saying that she never complained about anything…ha ha. The next day at breakfast, there was no sign of Stella…
At dinner, there was no sign of Stella…
SO…one of the other ladies at the table said she knew which room she was in and would go and see if she was OK.
We were concerned because Stella was a diabetic and they have to have regular meals. The lady came back, with Stella falling over a step and we had to get up to help her up. Stella told us that she had gone to bed on the Monday night and couldn’t remember anything else. This of course was worrying…After dinner, the lady that had gone to find Stella asked me if I could come back with her to Stella’s room as she was worried about her. We took Stella to her room and on her bed was something akin to the crown jewels…there must have been thousands of pounds worth of jewellery there. Stella told us that she takes it everywhere with her ! So Jill (the helpful lady) and I wrapped all the jewellery up in some of Stella’s jumpers and showed her that we had hidden it in one of the drawers because no matter how trustworthy the staff were, we couldn’t be sure of it not being stolen.
Stella said that she wanted to go to bed and asked Jill if she would go to the bar and buy her a bottle of wine…off trots Jill… I helped Stella into bed and Jill returned with a bottle and a glass.
As we poured a glass out for Stella, I looked down and next to her bed was an empty wine bottle and and empty VODKA bottle !!!..no wonder she had gone to bed and not woken up all day.
Knowing she was diabetic, Jill asked Stella if she had taken her tablets and Stella insisted that she had…however…on her bedside table was a pill dispenser that was labelled each day for the week and every day was FULL…so she hadn’t taken any of her medication either !
Jill reported it to the reception desk because we certainly didn’t think she should be drinking.
No one saw Stella all day Wednesday …but reception told us that the matter was being taken care of.
We worried about her eating and even getting up on Friday for the trip home !
Friday morning, Jill knocked for Stella to make sure that she was packed and ready to come home…
We had been told to get our suitcases outside our bedroom doors before 8 am.
Stella had apparently woken at 4.30 AM and decided to put her suitcase out at that time. Unfortunately the doors are self locking…her bedroom door shut, leaving Stella on the landing in the middle of the night !!..No one was around, so she had to sit on the floor until 7 am when one of the staff members arrived.
It was Stella’s birthday too and she told us that she was…72…same age as ME…(We know this was correct as she showed me something with her date of birth on it)…
Stella of course nudged me and bruised me and talked all the way home.
We stopped at a garden centre and were told to be back at the coach at 1.45pm…Two people failed to return and the coach driver went looking for them…no sign…so another man on the coach also decided to go looking for them…now we were 4 people missing…ha ha…
The two ladies returned but no coach driver or man…who were unaware of the return of the ladies and were now still searching. SO I went to find them…I.managed that and at last we all got back on the road, nearly an hour late.
Apart from all that, I had a lovely time meeting up with my friend who lived near the Hotel and we spent three days talking of old times.
I don’t think I will plan another holiday…I would rather stay home and just go to the seafront for a cuppa and a cake…this is what my friend does and I think is more to my liking than holidays with people that I don’t know…
Of course there is more, but I could be here all year with the Saga of Stella, who insisted on saying Brenda, after each statement…“are you ok Brenda?”, Well I have had a lovely Holiday Brenda,…it is my birthday Brenda,…what was the name of the place we had lunch in Brenda…
UNTIL, on the way home, she decided that my name was Bridget…Would you like a sweet Bridget?..Where do you live Bridget…?..even saying…“I am so glad that I still have all my faculties Bridget!!”
What a holiday…lol…
Normality at home at last and on a good note, despite some rain, not ONCE did I get caught in it…every time my friend and I went in a shop it rained and every time we came outside it stopped !!..well done Universe…
So that is that holiday that I will never forget…
A bruised armed Brenda/Bridget.
Burnham has lots of tea shops if I remember correctly. We occasionally stay on a campsite in Brean!
She doesn’t sound like a hoot to me, but a total pain in the derriere!..
