Dom Pannell's Blog

There's no T in Hip

and it seems there's no tea in a Hip Hotel.

I'm staying in the very charming Maison du Bassin in Cap Ferret, near to Bordeaux in France.

It's a very picturesque little seaside village packed with oyster farms and I've been out exploring and sampling crustaceans. Now it's windy and raining and I don't feel like going outside. I do feel like having a cup of tea.

It's a very picturesque little seaside village packed with oyster farms and I've been out exploring and sampling crustaceans. Now it's windy and raining and I don't feel like going outside. I do feel like a cup of tea.

I counted six members of staff in the dining room and bar, all of whom are preparing for this evening. I asked very politely if I could have a cup of tea. I even asked in French. I was sent to two different parts of the hotel and told three times that it is not possible to make me a cup of tea.

I could start a rant about the French and customer service, but that wouldn't be fair; I have experienced more good service than poor on this trip (including an excellent dinner in this hotel last night), which I'm very happy about. I just don't want to be confined to my hip room until the hip staff can be bothered to boil me some water.

I guess I'll be forced to drink the bottle of André Jacquart Grand Cru champagne that is chilling in a wine bucket in my room...

;-)

I had lunch with Leanne today

Leanne runs web company Sleek Services and she's going to help me out with a website idea that I've been kicking around for a while (stay tuned kids!).

She also took a photo of me with my bike.

We ate in a Japanese restaurant no Jamaica Way.