[The Little Bowl] A Cheap Motel

[Guest guest]

Yesterday, the air-conditioner in the truck went out. After our delivery, we called breakdown and they sent us to a repair shop. This is the 6th time this past year it has broken down. I knew it was happening when we sat in Vince Lombardy and the heat was sweltering. They couldn’t finish the job today so they sent us to a motel. A cheap one. I am not one to get too fussy, but when I pulled back the covers, I had to call the desk to have them come and change the sheets. The housekeeper came, and it was a guy. A tattooed, pants around the hips, cap on sideways street punk. I was floored watching him change the bed. He did a nice job. was polite, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I miss the days when people wore uniforms and you knew they were an employee. After I got use to the saggy floor in the bathroom and the hole in the curtain, I felt ok that the room was otherwise clean. Last night was a test for us. Whenever a routine is upset, chances to overeat are ominously present. I know, for me, this was always the excuse to have some fun, eat, be merry, whatever. Hotels, restaurants were always regarded as a big treat, an out-of-the-ordinary thing to do, so eating out-of-the-ordinary goes hand in hand. So here we sat, hungry, suddenly thrust into a new environment we did not expect, a chance to be off the truck for at least the night, what do we do? The first thing I did was get online and search for a restaurant that delivered food. Dinner was a priority. lol. The motel was so cheesy it didn’t provide any local information, nor little bottles of shampoo. I found ONE local Chinese place that delivered (so few choices for Columbus, OH!). Otherwise, our other choices were a bakery and a fast food and a bar that were around the motel. Not good options. The Golden Chopsticks brought us a a pretty small meal for a Chinese restaurant. The combo was about a cup of rice, a small eggroll and one patty of egg foo yong with strange square cubes of hopefully chicken. It was white and tasteless. I didn’t take a picture of it, but it was the blandest, colourless, skimpy veggies, Chinese food I ever ate. The portion size was so small that it didn’t phase my calorie count at all, brining me to 1305 calories for the day. I am ok with that. Once I had dinner in my tummy, I no longer thought about eating any more food. But my husband thought otherwise. I just had a feeling it was brewing. It didn’t help that there was a basketball game on, that there had been all the stresses of getting the truck in a shop and finding a place for us to hang out while it is being fixed. Yes, I knew it was coming. What always, even after all this time of being married, was that this snack urge for him comes right after dinner. We are so different in that regard. He avoided the bakery, but found a convenience store and bought his goodies. So that was that. I secretly wished there had been a liquor store and I could have had a lovely summer drink, tall and with lots of ice, but there wasn’t and so I stopped thinking about it. I noticed that this morning, I was releasing fluid like crazy. Whoosh! Glad we were in a motel room and not the truck and on the road. My ankles are back to normal. Today is when they will be working on the truck, we’ll stay at the motel until check out. Breakfast was ok, they provided coffee, and we had cheese from the cooler, but more than likely, we will have to order out for lunch. Maybe there is a restaurant close to the repair shop, as we will have to sit in their lounge until it’s done and any walk to anywhere would be welcome. --

Posted By elisaannh to The Little Bowl at 6/04/2010 05:24:00 AM