We had a flexi ticket so just turned up on spec and took the next one available which was 6pm. We had no hotel booked and forgot about the hour difference so it as quite late when we arrived with nowhere to stay. He texted back. I shouted at the SatNav voice as things were getting a little fraught.
We went round and round in circles for about half an hour getting increasingly stressed when the mobile rang. It was David. At this point we debated whether to go home and strangle David but on balance decided we would just drive to Calais, 20 minutes away, after all how hard can it be to find a hotel off season in the North of France?
Did you see that news report recently about the number of people trying to get out of France via Calais, who jump onto the roofs of cars or wrap themselves round axles of a lorry trying to smuggle themselves into Britain? Well it was no exaggeration. There were literally dozens of people all wrapped up, hooded walking the streets with cases, bags, rucksacks. Eventually we stopped in a car park , far away from anywhere and looked up Hotel in Calais?
We plugged the addresses in and yet again SatNav woman told us to Refer to the map. Clearly she was as annoyed with us as we were with her. So we were stuck, circling the streets of Calais looking for somewhere to stay. There was nothing. Nowhere and just as were starting to go from calm and philosophical to hysterical and sobbing I clocked a lit sign.
A hotel! I shouted and immediately did a U turn and drove into the car park which had a high fence round it. A sign that we were not in The Ritz admittedly but it was open and by now it was 11pm and that qualified it as our best and only option. The room was on the ground floor and as we stumbled along the corridor the smell of damp was quite overpowering. Opening the door into the room was difficult as it was such a narrow corridor we had to shuffle in single file.
