Cold, Wet and Windy

I know it is winter, but to me it’s the worst one in living memory here in Perth. The early mornings have been incredibly cold and the days full of downpours of heavy rain. It’s been hard to find a space between the showers to take my usual walk down to the river. I can’t believe how much rain has fallen and the pools on the old golf course in front of me never seem to drain away:

I’ve been watching a series on TV entitled Families Like Ours. All this water reminds me of it. The story is based on the premise that rising sea levels have caused the evacuation of the entire country of Denmark. The Danes have become unwanted refugees as borders are closed against them. It’s really quite scary. I can’t watch it late at night. What if the Swan River were to rise, flood the area around here and leave our apartment blocks marooned? 

Back to reality, and the beautiful coral trees are all in flower:

These trees are environmental weeds in the Eastern States, but not here in W.A.

Never apologise, never explain

"Never apologize, never explain" is a motto associated with a communication style of not offering explanations or apologies for actions or statements.

• Assertion of Authority:

  The phrase suggests an unwillingness to be accountable or to justify one's actions, often implying a position of power. 
• Rejection of Public Scrutiny:

  It can be seen as a way to avoid public debate or criticism, potentially by those in positions where their actions are not subject to the same level of public scrutiny.

All I know is that I was sick as a dog after eating breakfast and drinking coffee last week at the Ocean Centre Hotel. The poached eggs were perfect. It could only have been the coffee. There are plenty of videos on the internet showing how to clean an espresso machine. It is quite a lengthy process and I suspect they were in the middle of it when I ordered a coffee. They should have said: “I’m sorry, the coffee machine is closed now. Would you like a cup of tea instead?”

I would have liked an apology, not just a flat denial of responsibility. I realise now that will never happen. It could result in someone losing their job, or a visit from the Public Health Authority or even the restaurant being closed down. It is a serious matter to poison someone (see the case of the Mushroom Murderer). I was lucky not to end up in hospital, but I still feel shaken by the whole episode.

Geraldton to Perth

The last leg of my journey involved a “bump in the road” which caused an unscheduled overnight stop at Western Flora Caravan Park. It was a pretty awful end to my holiday!

As usual, I spent the night at Ocean Centre Hotel in Geraldton. Next morning the drama began. This email to the Hotel Manager describes events:

I have stayed many times at the Ocean Centre Hotel when driving on a road trip up north.
I always enjoyed a very good experience until this week.

I stayed with on you 30th June, departing next day.

When I went down for breakfast at exactly 8.54 am., there was a notice “Breakfast Closed”. I was surprised and checked the time again. Breakfast was supposed to end at 9.am. Why so early?  Then I realised that the times 6.00 to 9.00 reflected the convenience of tradies, not leisure travellers like myself (and I had noticed a lot of tradies checking in).

With some reluctance, the woman agreed to serve me. I had two delicious poached eggs, with grilled tomatoes and a coffee which tasted a bit “off”, but I drank it.

Two hours later, on my way south, I started to vomit - followed by bouts of diarrhoea. My conclusion is that I had been drinking some cleansing material from the coffee machine.

Well, I had to find somewhere to stay. I was close to Western Flora Caravan Park and they let me have a donga. It was a little way from the toilet block, which I had to visit many times during the night, in the dark and in the rain. It was a terrible experience for the last night of my road trip to Broome and back.

I am writing this, to give you a chance to compensate me for the whole experience - and possibly for you to reconsider your alignment to tradies’ hours.

This is what I received in reply:

Thank you for the email and a chance to review some things,

Firstly our breakfast closure, at times depend on supply and demand, if the kitchen hasn’t served anyone for 15 minutes or more after 8.30 then the chef may decide ok well no one else is coming so we start to close up shop to move onto other jobs within the hotel, it’s a very rare occurrence that we have someone come in so close to the time of closure. I am please the staff were able to accommodate your request none the less. I was the one holding the baby and I remember the flat white that was made, I can assure you I was the one to clean the coffee machine down and use the chemical when the machine was closed after my arrival that day. Had your coffee not tasted right perhaps making the staff aware of it at the time would have been beneficial to you and us.

Yes we are a corporate hotel, so our opening times reflect this, 6.30 am-9weekdays and weekends 7.30-10 as this is the most times we have leisurely guests. Our opening ours haven’t changed so on your previous stays have you been in attendance at the restaurant for breakfast?

I cannot answer to what went wrong for you to feel the way you did none the less I will action a $50 refund to you to cover your breakfast charge 
Regards

Jodina Eliassen

When I finally got home, I went down to my local coffee shop and talked to the boss to find out how coffee machines are cleaned. This is what he told me:

1) Clean the machine by sending through the chemical.

2) Wash out the machine twice with water in order to get rid of any chemical residue.

3) Make a normal coffee and throw it away, before using the machine again.

This is the chemical cleanser used.

This warning appears on the Cafetto website:

Ingestion may cause gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Harmful if swallowed.

(Taken from:

Safety precaution instructions issued by Cafetto Espresso Clean).

I'm waiting for a response from the hotel......