Chapter 7: Board before Bed

When the mini-bus got to the hotel, the manager was waiting outside the grand marble and brass entrance to greet them and he particularly beckoned to the driver to join him, in order to talk to him privately inside the hotel.

Monty turns to Sofija, “Would you mind asking George to give you a hand with the tail lift, while I go and talk to the manager?”

“Of course,” Sofija replies to Monty, “George does go on all ze care home trips, because ve open zhem up to ze private residents in order to make ze trips more viable und, on on zhose trips, he often gives a hand getting passengers on und off.” She turns to look down the mini-bus gangway and sees that George is already looking up, and appears to have heard at least the gist of the conversation and what was required of him, and he nods his acquiescence in response to her.

Monty opens the passenger door, using the controls in the driver’s cab, then he climbed down through the driver’s door, stretched his arms up and over his head to straighten out the stiffness in his back caused by the uncomfortable seating and then he walks around the front end of the bus and up half a dozen steps aided by shiny brass handrails up to the reception area in the front part of the hotel.

George releases his own seat belt with a click, causing Sally to sit upright, realising he was going to rise out of his seat. He got up, saying to Sally, “I’m going to help Sofija while Monty’s dealing with the Hotel management, formally booking us all in, no doubt.”

“All right George,” she replies.

As George meets Sofija by the three steps down to the pavement, George says, “There’s no ramp for the wheelchairs at the front of the hotel, do you know if there is an alternative disabled entrance, Sofija?”

“No, sorry, George, I don’t know. Claire spoke to ze organisers on ze telephone last week. It is ze St Mary’s church charity zat is paying for ze bulk of ze trip, so I assume zat she has informed zem of ze ages of our visitors und zat ve do need veelchair access for some of our residents on zis trip. Also, Oscar needs to borrow a veelchair vile ve are here und I vos told zat zere ver several hotel veelchairs available for us to use.”

“Well, Sofija,” George says, “let’s get everyone off the bus and get the walking wounded among us comfortable inside, because I expect most of them need a toilet break by now. Then we’ll get Boris’ scooter and Elsie’s F1 wheelchair down. Hopefully by then the manager will be back with the staff to get the luggage off the bus and up to the rooms. There must be a goods lift somewhere, probably round the back.”

George waved Sofija down the steps first and he followed. Immediately behind him descended Sally, followed by Rosemary.

Doreen called down to Sofija from the gangway, “Is there a wheelchair for Oscar? I think he feels that he needs to get inside to use the facilities as soon as possible.”

“George?” Sofija asks, “Could you go into ze reception area und find out about ze veelchairs? I vill get ze rear door open und get Boris’ scooter down ready. Elsie can vait in ze mini-bus a little longer as she has no particular pressing need, because I vill have to give her a nappy change before dinner anyvay.”

“Yes, of course,” George turns and walks to the steps and up to and through the revolving door into the front of the hotel. There were a couple of folded-up wheelchairs to one side of the foyer, next to where the various leaflets for tourist attractions in Weston-Super-Mare and other North Somerset gardens, National Trust properties and museums etc were on display in a wooden rack. Looking around, he couldn’t see either the manager, who he had only got a fleeting glance at, a rather short, bald overweight man in shirtsleeves and knotted tie who waved at Monty the driver as the mini-bus pulled up. There was an attractive young lady sitting behind the Reception desk, who was smiling at him.

“Do you have a wheelchair-friendly entrance to the hotel?” George asks her.

“Yes, there is an alleyway two doors up, to the right of the hotel as you face it. The alleyway leads to a gate at the far end. I can open it electronically from here as there is a camera focused on the approaches to the gate, it is marked ‘Seaview Hotel Staff Entrance’. There is also a buzzer which can be used to let me or the night porter know you want to be let in. When I open the gate you can go through to the back door of the hotel and there is a lift there which takes you to the hallway just behind Reception here. You then need to come to Reception first, through that internal door over there, so that we can issue you with your keys and then you can go from here to your rooms. The passenger lifts to the other floors are through that door to your right, the other side of the bar area.”

“All right, thank you,” George replies, “There will be three wheelchairs, two have brought their own and there is one passenger who will use this one. Do you have a toilet here as several of the passengers will probably need them before long, if not immediately?”

“Yes, of course,” she smiles back, “Through the doorway on your right, which leads to the sun room, at the far end is the bar and if you turn left at the bar it will lead to the Ladies and Gents and the disabled toilets, there’s plenty of room to cope with half-a dozen desperate people at a time. The lift at the back of the hotel is also the goods lift and the porters will use that to get the cases from your coach up to your rooms. As for a wheelchair to borrow, we put two over there as it was a little unclear whenthe one or two was required.”

“Thank you,” George says, “I think the confusion is because eating the last moment a gentleman got the use of a disabled scooter instead. Is anyone available now to collect the luggage from the mini-bus?”

“Yes, the manager has that in hand, Fred and Joe should be wheeling the luggage trolleys through around about now. In fact I can see them on the monitor now, they come in and out of the same gate as the disabled access. I can see them coming through and down the alleyway. They have a list of all the guests and their room numbers, so, as long as the supplied tags have been affixed to the bags and cases, they will be taken up to the rooms while we sort out the registrations. Tea should be arriving in the Sun Room any minute now and it is probably best for everyone to assemble in comfort in there.”

“Thank you, you’ve been very helpful.” George smiles at her, then turns and wheels the unfolded wheelchair through the revolving door and outside to the steps. Outside he noticed that the breeze coming off the sea was pretty stiff and ladened with ozone.

“Very invigorating, eh Molly?” he asks his late wife out loud.

‘Bruhh, George, you know how I feel the cold when it’s cold,’ Molly replies in his head, sounding very much as though she was shivering.

‘Oh, can you feel that breeze, then Molly?’ he quietly thought in his head as he carried the wheelchair down the steps to the pavement.

‘No, not exactly,’ she replies, ‘I can’t actually feel it, but I feel as though I am shivering at the very thought of being exposed to that bitterly cold wind.’

‘It’s not cold, sweetheart, just bracing,’ George retorts in thought only as the coach is now only a few feet away.

‘It’s October, dear, it’s a crazy time of the year for a holiday, any holiday, in these islands,’ Molly says in George’s head, ‘Whose silly idea was this and why oh why did we agree to go?’

‘As you know, my dear, because you continually urge me every single time, to sign up for every Care Home and Residential Action Committee trip that’s going, I’ve done almost as much mileage in this blessed mini-bus as the tyres have, and they are still the original set fitted in this old bus 16 years ago, although I believe this is the longest trip that this bus has ever taken.’

‘Well, that shouldn’t phase you. George, you travelled much further in the Army than I did when you abandoned me for all those years.’

‘I did not abandon you, Mole, I had to do National Service, it was compulsory, remember.’

‘You didn’t have to tack on another four years, though,’ she sniffs, ‘I really missed you.’

‘But it was the first step towards starting our business and you enjoyed having our own business.’

‘I suppose so,’ Molly grudgingly agrees.

The light was fading in the clubhouse at the Songlebridge Golf Club, play had stopped for the day and the lights were on. Claire, the Care Home manager, Mabel, the wife of the local MP, and Evelyn, the magistrate who has persuaded Monty to drive the mini-bus as part of his community service, are sitting in the club bar room and sharing a bottle of wine between them.

“Well, Evie,” Claire smiles at the magistrate, “you had quite a tough match today, it went down to the final hole. Do you still feel confident about retaining your title in tomorrow’s final?”

Evelyn smiles back, “I’m sure it’ll be a close contest in the final, Claire, my dear, but we shall see, we shall see. Have you decided what we are having to eat tonight?”

“All this talk of the ‘sea’, Ladies, and my husband’s part in it, puts me in mind of having the crab,” smiles Mabel.

“Ha!” Evelyn laughs, “I wonder how your dumb hubby’s doing down at the seaside?”

“Oh, I expect he struggled keeping the bus below 40 on the A and B roads and found it extremely frustrating getting the bus to go above 50 on the motorways. But if we don’t get him compromised as planned on the way down, we’ll get him tonight or have him pulled over with too much alcohol in his blood on Sunday. It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel and he’ll be toast.”

“There will either be a by-election if he resigns his seat in shame, or if he clings on until the next General Election in the Spring or Summer of 2024,” Claire says with a chuckle, “he’ll be dropped like a stone by the local party and Mabel can step into his shoes. She is so well known in the area, with many of her delectable fingers in hot sweet pies in the constituency, that her victory in securing the party ticket would be in the bag.”

“And, after getting caught with his trousers down,” Mabel says, “Monty’s ego will force him to save face by divorcing me, that is if he resists Sofija’s charms and is not recorded doing the dirty cheating on his loving spouse by the cameras that we’ve installed in his hotel bedroom, he will divorce me on grounds of irreconcilable differences or I will divorce him on grounds of his adultery. That way I can circumvent the penalties of our pre-nuptials agreement, so that he will leave the marriage with nothing and I will leave the marriage with everything coming to me.”

“And will Sofija play along with this plan of yours?” Evelyn the Magistrate asks.

“She will have to,” Claire says with a smile, “otherwise we’ll get her deported as the illegal immigrant that she is and they will send her back to Belarus. She will definitely not want that, so we have her in our pockets.”

“Let’s drink to our imminent success then, shall we ladies?” Mabel raises her wine glass.

“To success!” Both Evelyn and Claire reply with “Cheers!” and all three chink their glasses together.

Back at the Seaview Hotel, with George’s help Doreen had managed to get her father Oscar into the hotel wheelchair that George had carried down the steps for her, unfolded and locked the wheels into place as fully open and safe to use. It was a pretty spartan model, George thought, but Doreen was happy with it, it was quite light and manoeuvrable.

“You help the others get up the stairs, Doreen,” suggested George, “and I’ll wheel Oscar around to the disabled entrance and up the goods lift at the back. We’re all meeting in the Sun Room to the right of the Reception, where they’ll be serving tea and coffees while they get us all booked in and our room keys distributed.”

“Thank you, George,” Doreen smiles back, “I’ll see you later.”

All the other passengers were out of the mini-bus and George asks Sofija to get them all inside quickly and out of the rather cool late afternoon sea breeze, while he helps to get Boris onto his electric scooter.

Meanwhile, the hotel porters, Fred and Joe, have arrived out front and start loading the overnight bags from the back of the mini-bus onto their luggage trolley. Joe sees that Boris still had his overnight bag strapped to his scooter and offers to add it to the trolley but Boris refuses to let it out of his sight. Joe was an old hand at this job, accustomed to guests, particularly the older ones, being unusually possessive about their property. He did not press the point, he backed off and, as there were only a few bags and they were not particularly bulky, they were loaded up in a matter of minutes and were soon on their way wheeling the trolley towards the staff entrance.

Once he was sure that both Elsie and Boris were ready to follow him, George set off pushing Oscar’s borrowed wheelchair. Elsie immediately got going under her own steam and followed George while he pushed Oscar along the pavement towards the alleyway leading to the disabled entrance. Boris followed on in the rear.