Page 43 of Dancing Fools and All That Jazz
Ingrida talks quietly to Fay, pats her arm gently and then holds the key up in the air as she returns to the group. ‘We are to share this room.’
‘What, all of us?’ I ask.
Ingrida nods.
‘All seven of us?’ Asha’s eyes could not go any wider.
‘You’re frigging joking?’ Ruby says.
Fay joins us, shaking her head. ‘I am afraid so. The concierge has told Ingrida all the rooms are multiple occupancy. No wonder the hotel was so affordable. Still, it cannot be helped, and I doubt we will be spending much time here… At least we have arrived safely and in time for the competition tomorrow.’
From the corner of my eye, I see Ruby pulling a face, but Bonnie and Cath are giggling.
‘Oh, come on now. It’ll be a right laugh to share a dormitory,’ Cath digs Bonnie with her elbow. ‘We went backpacking around Europe not so long ago. Stayed in every grade of hostel imaginable. This isn’t so bad.’
‘If this isn’t so bad, I’m dying to hear what’s worse,’ Ruby sniggers.
‘Our room it is on the fourth floor.’ Ingrida presses thelift button but then exclaims, ‘Ne. Jašanas…’
‘Jašanas?’ Bonnie asks.
‘It mean—’
‘Oh frigging hell…’ Ruby stamps her foot.
‘Jasomething like that…’
Ruby points to a small hand-written notice on the lift door. ‘Hors de service. It’s out of bloody service.’
‘We’ll have to use the stairs.’ Cath groans. ‘I think we’ll all feelhors de serviceby the fourth floor.’
We grab our suitcases and begin to mount the metal stairs, a bare bulb lighting the way on each floor. The walls have a thin coat of whitewash, which fails to cover up the graffiti underneath. I avoid touching the banister or the wall.
I am more shattered than I care to admit. We have spent the entire day travelling, much of it on our feet hanging around at stations. At least I managed to get a first-class seat on the train to London.
As it turns out, it proved to be a huge bonus to travel by train. I was able to put my plan into action on Vince’s tablet – I doubt I could have done this on a flight – and now everything is set up. It just needs to play out. I would have rewarded myself with a glass of wine, however, having had my head down looking at the screen combined with sitting in a chair that faced backwards I was left feeling really sick. I pushed the device back into my case and asked the lady serving refreshments if she had any paracetamol. She was unable to help, saying, ‘Sorry love. It’s these Pendolino trains. They cause a lot of trouble.’
Once in London, we had to battle through the crowdsto get to St Pancras. Then we almost missed our train to Paris after the hold up over Ingrida’s passport.
At least we have eaten. I gave Fay the credit card to purchase a large batch of sandwiches, biscuits, and water for our journey to France. It was just as well as the buffet trolley on the Eurostar turned out to have sold out of everything but alcohol and crisps.
Ingrida, who is in front of me, pushes the heavy door to the fourth floor open and we trail after her down a narrow corridor to our room.
She opens the door and I follow her in.
The room is full of beds – two doubles and four singles – with barely any space in between. One wall is lined with a few kitchen units next to a single bed in the corner and the other beds are criss-crossed in the main area of the room with just enough space to close the blinds of the large windows that face the brick façade of an adjacent building.
‘Woah. Look at all these beds.’ Bonnie shakes her head.
‘Someone is going to have to share a double.’ Asha puts her case on top of a single bed, and I quickly follow suit, putting mine on the single bed in the corner.
‘Oh, we’ll share, no problem.’ Cath throws her case onto the double, as does Bonnie.
‘At least the bedding looks clean.’ Fay inspects the pillowcase of the single she has chosen.
‘And there is a fresh towel on each bed,’ I add.
‘Ruby, you have double, I am OK in single.’ Ingrida points a hand to the second double bed, up against the window.
