1 post tagged “seabank hotel”

As I rely on having broadband Internet to do my job, I had two suppliers: cable as the main supplier and ADSL as a back-up in case cable went down. But the ADSL one didn't work especially well and in the first 3 months of being here cable worked faultlessly. So I decided not to renew the ADSL subscription. In the unlikely event of cable going down, I reasoned, I could always go to a nearby hotel and use the wifi there. But I didn't go to the trouble of actually checking whether a local hotel had such a service.

The very next day after my ADSL subscription expired, cable went down. And at a particularly critical point when I was supposed to prepare a journal for time-critical input into the production system. I couldn't believe it.

I phoned Directory Enquiries and asked for the number of the Seabank Hotel (a great hotel, by the way), and the employee just recited the number straight to me, without so much as looking at a computer screen. I said to her, 'You know that number by heart?' and she said, 'Yes, and a lot of other numbers too!'. I was very impressed. This sort of thing is only possible in a country the size of Malta.

Fortunately the hotel has an excellent broadband wifi service that's available to non-residents, so all was well. I sat in the lobby with my laptop and accessed the Internet without difficulty, but I had to put up with listening to Christmas Muzak and chirping budgerigars. So I went to the hotel shop and bought some chocolate M&Ms. Before long I was on such a sugar and additives high that even listening to a dodgy rendition of 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful' accompanied by a disorganized chorus of budgies seemed quite enjoyable.

I plan to arrange another backup Internet supplier.