Yesterday I never made it to the pool. While I was uploading my blogpost, one of the
ladies who run the hotel came up to me and told me the awful news about the
hotel: The owner has sold half of the
apartments to a developer who plans to sell them off one by one! So there are only 21 apartments left to rent,
and they are being booked up fast. If I
want to ensure that I have an apartment next year I must take out an option
now. So I immediately signed up for three
weeks next year, of course. After next
year, who knows what will happen.
The ladies who work here are very depressed. Two have been made redundant, the other two
are having their hours cut back. The
hotel will be closed between October and February, during which time the ladies
won’t get paid. If the developer is
successful in selling the apartments they bought, maybe they will buy the
remaining 21 as well, and then I will be Homeless in La Bourboule!
It is bad enough that I will no longer reside in No 203 (I
am being banished to the fourth floor), perhaps the entire hotel will no longer
exist! The people who can only afford to
come to La Bourboule for a few weeks will be booted out in favour of rich
people who can afford a second home. By
some unfeeling capitalist who lives – where else! – in Paris
and cares nothing for the town.
Every time I think I have sorted out an aspect of my life
for the next 50 years or so something like this happens! I am totally bummed out! If there is a petition out there I will sign
it. All the guests at the hotel are sad,
standing around in small groups lamenting their fate and commiserating with the
ladies who run it.
If you plan to stay at the hotel next year, book
immediately! If you try to book after
October there will be no one to answer the telephone or reply to an e-mail
until February, because the hotel will be closed.
Sad sad sad sad sad ………
