Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
'And you have made it all the way to Fort William from Land's End without spending
any money?'
'Yes.'
'Well, I wouldn't want to ruin it for you now. I'm sure we can sort something out for
you. Pass me back to Tootie and I'll have a chat with her.'
'Uhhuh...ok...ay...ok...haha...uhhuh,'saidTootie, asshecontinued theconversation
with the owner.
We watched on, trying to work out what they were talking about.
'Ok,'saidTootie,afterhangingupthephone,'Ahcanlityesleepinabunkinoneofth'
dormitory rooms. In return, she would like ye tae clean out uir dryin' room which is under
th'buildin',an'clearupawth'fagbuttsfraeinth'frontayth'hostel.Diz'atsoondawerite?'
'Sounds like a great deal. Thank you,' I said.
Tootie showed us to a nice room with two sets ofbunkbeds. It was unoccupied, and she
said it was unlikely that she would need to put anyone else in with us.
We collected a bucket, dustpan, mop, cloths, bin bags and a couple of brushes, and
Tootie showed us to the drying room, which was located in an underground car park area.
It was used by customers and staff to hang wet hiking gear and to store ski equipment.
We spent about an hour removing the mats, sweeping it out, bagging up rubbish and
giving it a general tidy. It then took another 20 minutes to pick up hundreds of cigarette
butts that lined the road outside the hostel entrance. I have a feeling that a high-proportion
of these were Tootie's.
During the cleaning we got talking to a chef who worked in a posh restaurant just down
theroadfromthehostel.Hewasfascinated tohearallaboutouradventureandwaskeento
help us out.
'I can't offer to feed you tonight, I'm afraid, because we're so busy, but I'll make you
up a packed lunch in the morning if you fancy it.' We hadn't even asked him for anything,
and already the following day's lunch was taken care of.
'What shall we do about food tonight?' asked Ben when we were back in our room.
'We've still got those Londis tuna pasta bakes.'
'Ughh, I don't think I can face one of those. I fancy fish and chips.'
'You make me laugh. We've got two perfectly decent microwave meals, yet you still
want to go out and try and blag fish and chips.'
'Yeah, what's wrong with that?'
'Nothing. I would like fish and chips, too. Let's go.'
Twentyminuteslaterwewerebackatthehostelwithtwoportionsofhaddockandchips.
We had got lucky at a takeaway on the main street. The manager wasn't in, and the girl
behind the counter handed over two fish suppers without any hesitation.
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