We have a TV programme in Britain 'Grumpy Old Men' and also one called 'Grumpy Old Women', in which veterans voice their moans. Do we really get grumpier and begin to complain more as we grow older? Of course we do. When you're young you'll put up with a lot of things that you wouldn't tolerate in later life.
We've just got back from holiday in Italy where we booked a 'garden view' room at a 5 star hotel (I mention that to point out that it cost us a lot of money), but the view when we looked out of the window was of a roof. I took a photograph, went to the reception and asked them if they considered that a 'garden view'. They looked on the computer and said that the room was down as a 'garden view' - but they then phoned us up and upgraded us into a suite at no extra charge. It had two bathrooms, a huge bedroom, a living room, a couple of flat screen televisions, a large patio surrounded by the gardens - fantastic! When we went to the Italian lakes last year we paid a lot of extra money for a 'lakeside view'. The room they gave us was an attic at the top of the building with a wall outside the window. To see the lake we had to stand on top of a chair. We went and complained and they moved us to another room. But we couldn't see the lake because a huge bush outside the window obscured the view. They then moved us into a decent room, the type of room we'd originally booked and paid for. The year before we went to Ischica. We paid an extra six hundred pounds for a sea view. When we got in the room all we could see was the restaurant roof. We refused to stay in the room and they took us to another one. We still had a view of the restaurant roof, but we could see the sea in the distance. Although three quarters of the view was obscured, since part of the sea could be seen, both the hotel and travel agent said that we had got the sea view we paid for! When we went to Tuscany, we paid for a five star hotel. When we arrived it was only four star and they stuck us in a dreadful room above the kitchens overlooking a yard full of refuse. We complained and argued for several days and for a few days they moved us into a better room, then moved us once again to a terrible room at the back on the building. We had to complain to the travel agents who gave us a four hundred pound refund for wrongfully advertising it as a five star hotel.
More gumpy complaints from me soon - but it makes you wonder about holidays in Italy, doesn't it!
