Saturday 11th July 2009, 00:52
The future's bright
Now's when my new phone starts paying for itself. Got a new 'phone' just last week (I put 'phone' in inverted commas cos let's be honest, they stopped being phones a while back. That's about 8th down the list of things it does, somewhere after GPS and decibelometer), just when everyone else is getting the new iphone. And that prompted me to look into it, but after a well-played phone call to Vodafone ("I'm leaving you, you cad. Unless you can tempt me back with a good deal on the HTC Magic."), I decided to go for an iphone-a-like. So I now have this 'phone' that also does email on the move, BBC iplayer, camcorder, googlemaps, lightsaber (see last blog post) etc etc.
And so to now. Just returning from a gig in Newcastle, and thanks to an east-facing hotel in Doncaster last night, I had an early start this morning as soon as the sun rose. Grr to the summer. So tonight I'm a tad too tired to push on home, and decided to pull in to a hotel about halfway back.
Motorway services all offer hotels for £50ish, but at the gig I thought hmm. Bet I can get a better deal online. So I searched www.laterooms.com - the travelling performer's favourite - and found the Best Western near Rotherham had rooms for £35. A saving of £15 on motorway prices. Huzzah. Like I say, the phone has started paying for itself.
Of course I didn't know if I'd be ready to stop when I reached Rotherham, so I didn't click 'Submit' until I reached the hotel itself. In fact I was sat in the car park, cheekily using the hotel's own wifi, to book the cheap internet deal. Then mere seconds later I wandered into reception, clutching my internet booking code, to a confused porter who swore blind that there were no internet bookings tonight. But then as we stood there - beep - a booking came through. Mine. He was a tad bewildered by how someone can have booked online before they knew I was coming, but it worked. I got a room worth £75 (if you just walk in) for a mere £35, and since there's definitely (probably) no one else coming tonight, he's given me the best room. It's practically a suite - full of old-fashioned furniture and a nice king-size bed.
So thank you, new phone. I shall now check using the compass that the windows don't face east. Woo. West-facing. The sun shall not wake me after all. I like the future. So much better than the sun-waking past in Doncaster.