It’s A Year Since I Last Stayed In My Favourite Hotel In London
I moved out of London ten years ago but, as I hate commuting, I used to stay in a budget hotel near Waterloo three or four times a month.
It was my perk. I kept part of London life, saw my friends and had an easy journey to work, rather than a 90 minute each way commute.
Time ticked by and my routine had gone on for nine years.
On Monday 9th March 2020 I went to the Self-Publishing Formula conference on the Southbank and had booked my usual room for that evening. The next day I would go to the office of my day job near St Pauls.
Running up to the conference, Covid-19 was closing in on the UK. It had already landed in Italy and we watched as the northern part of the country went into lockdown. Even though it seemed inevitable that it would come to the UK, at that point we were nervously escaping it. Could it really happen that all the shops would close and our freedom of movement be removed?
Every week the conference organisers were sending updates, confirming that they were still within government guidelines to continue, and hoping that it would remain the case.
At the conference we joked with each other about the encroaching threat, taking great care when washing our hands in the toilets.
