Saturday 10 November 2007

At the Swan

"All right, we give up - what's an 'American single'?"
The first arrivals for Stitch n Bitch were standing in the lobby of the Swan, and reading whatever was around - which included the room price list.
"It's a single room with a double bed," said the girl behind the reception desk.
She put the light on for us, so any further comments were forgotten as we got our projects out. One lady had brought a peg loom - but she wasn't happy with the way her experiment was going, and left early.
Partly, this was because we could hardly hear ourselves think! A private party was gathering in the main bar, all older men in smart suits, and the noise level was pretty high. The girl behind the bar told me it was some sort of agricultural society gathering.
It got very quiet when they all went in to dinner.

Sara had been thinking about architecture in Hay. When we wrote the book "...Nobody had Heard of Hay", I found references to No 20 High Town - but now the numbering only goes up to No 19, and nobody seems to know where No 20 was. Sara has been prowling up and down and examining the pointing on the whole row; "It's a wonder I didn't get arrested!" she said. She thinks that there was an extra house in there, and that the present 19 was originally 20. At some time in the past, two narrow houses must have been knocked into one.
I went and did my own prowling up and down later - and though I couldn't see any signs of it on the front of the buildings, there are two back doors for Oscars Restaurant, so she may well be right.

Today I have just been watching a lady trying to park her car - in a space that was shorter than the car. She tried three times, with two different people trying to direct her in - and none of them seemed to realise that there was no way the car would fit, however much she jiggled about.

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