Iestyn Edwards is...what?

A hiker stayed over in the hotel last night. He was from Bristol, late twenties, bearded, stocky in an olive green ribbed sweater and matching nylon trousers. He's on for thirty-five kilometres today.  He asked the breakfast room at large if anyone minded if he filled his water bottle from the jug - nobody did - meanwhile agreeing with me, 'No, there's not much to Bognor Regis, all said and done.' He also didn't think there was much to my friend, Pippa, who, on a walking holiday with her sister, got fed up with the walking part by the first morning, whining about how she just couldn't, she couldn't.  'Sarah would walk to the next B and B, getting through twenty miles or so a day,' I said, 'and - even in the wilds, middle of nowheresville - Pippa would somehow manage to arrive there by evening in a taxi. This was pre-Uber.' Hiker man looked disapproving. 'Bet she didn't sleep as well as he sister at night, though.'  Oh... #walking ...

I've just twigged about the lack of sound insulation in this once luxury, now faded to budget, hotel. (And in similar places.) 1) There would have been no motor vehicles in the 1820s, so no need to install triple glazing here in the Steyne when it was new.  2) Back then no sound-proofing would have been necessary between the rooms because the kind of loud, trashy person who came for this Valentine's weekend special* would have been far too poor to stay here. There. History and Science for your Sunday.  *At 7.20 am the woman in 337, for one example, was having riotous, multiple orgasms, all by herself; moaning in a Midlands accent.  #valentine #valentines #valentinesday #valentinesweekend 

'What a creaky lift that was. But, let's remember, the hotel is originally ever so old.' As she pushed the buggy down the hotel corridor, the woman reassured her toddler. 'But it does look cute.' Not sounding as though she really believed herself. 'Oh, we go this way. There will be lots of people here this weekend, with the date. We mustn't forget our exercises, so we can have ourselves a bit of a cheat-treat.' From her build and the sportswear, I assumed the woman was a PT. 'You'll enjoy yourself. Ooh, brace yourself, Rico, a bit of manoeuvring...' She turned at the end of the corridor.  Rico wasn't a toddler.  It was a pug.  In its buggy.  'This is Rico. I'm Jill. He's a rescue pug. Fawn.' 'Iestyn. Variety turn. Sitting in the hotel lobby, like Miss Marple, watching the comings and goings.' 'I'm a peripatetic masseuse for top sports teams.'  I felt there was a dichotomy between Jill's physical imp...

In Tesco's deli section a kid was shrieking. Ermina, at the till, said it was because the parents overfed it.  ‘Children never hear “No”, these days, and they get very screechy in here,' she clarified.  Ermina, coming from a Seychelles shanty town, had never had supermarkets full stop. ‘Stalls by the side of the road at best. But feeling gratitude for anything and everything is the Lord’s blessing on us. It is most certainly not on the way, this child’s attitude, to being the person who first thing Sunday in Sunday out gives up their time unquestioningly and with no need of thanks to sweep the church steps.’ I asked Ermina, was she talking about herself? I could see her with a triumphal, praising, blessed sweep parting the dust like God did the Red Sea.  She said, ‘No, not me. I still have things I can do with my Sundays, thanks be to God. I go swimming in Brockley, have an ice cream. Sometimes going overground to Clapham Common to see what the trees are up to. It’s Betti...

I've walked out of an Airbnb. I tried, I really tried. To put up with being there. On and off for eleven days. I don't know why.  Well, I do. Trying to make things work, fearing reprisals, not sticking up for myself.  The Hosts and I are now in dispute, with Airbnb as referee.  (In the Are you f-ing blind or what, ref? sense.) To kick off (no football pun intended) the agent told me, 'I can't pass on your comments. That would count as personal advice.'  So, I passed them on myself: 'Robin, I have some reality checks for you on your listing.' It is in a luxurious block and has just been fully renovated to a high end before being listed.  'The block is not luxurious, it's basic.' [Even the block's management company laughed at the descriptor luxurious .] 'Stained, damp smelling industrial carpet, faded, scuffed and spotted magnolia paint. Throughout the flat itself are botched paint and plaster touch-ups.' The space comprises a one-bedr...

This afternoon I went upstairs from my Airbnb to ask whoever lived there would they mind if I had a singing lesson at some point this week. The woman that opened the door was in her seventies, with a wryly amused look; deep turquoise woollen pyjamas and matching slippers. Her hair was grey, side parted and up-combed-over.  Here is the transcript of her monologue: I can’t believe it’s Airbnb downstairs. I’ve been here twenty years, since I divorced my husband and the housing association found me this place. I wouldn’t want to be here, otherwise. But I’m from round here. There’s good places, of course, but also bad places. Ore. The Old Town is so overrated. All those...what are they called...artin...oh, is that it? I’ll know for next time. All that type of shops but still nobody picks up the dog shit.  Do you hear my tele? Because I go deaf of an evening. I can’t believe it’s Airbnb downstairs. I did see a fat woman in there. And a bloke coming in and out I never saw without a c...

We self-employed performers in the UK will be skin of teeth submitting our tax returns by 11.59 and fifty-nine seconds on January the thirty-first. But only if we're that anal and over-organised.  Now, one, don’t worry – the following won’t get over-naughty, just naughty enough – and two, it isn’t true. Though an actor in my year at Guildhall went into porn, which gave me the idea.  An HMRC pamphlet gave me some amusement one dullish day in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.  Q. Are you confused about what constitutes being self-employed as opposed to employed? For your own self-elucidation, we advise you to answer in writing the questions highlighted in the pamphlet with specific reference to your last completed paid employment. Your answers should be written in ink. A. Not blood, then? Q. Did you “A” instigate the work or were you “B” hired to do the work? A. B.    PS - maybe use numbers as well here? Letter on letter is a tad confusing.  Q.  If “B”, by whom were y...