The corona virus has reduced us all to room cleaners – an uneasy visit to a central Bath hotel shows how we coped with the new normal as brigher days loom ahead.

Many years ago in another life I did a hotel management degree which at one stage resulted in me in running the housekeeping department of a London hotel. The Filipino housemaids, whose names ranged from Venus to Lolita, had great fun in giving me a hard time and would fly into a tantrum if I ever found anything wrong.

I thought I had left those days long behind me but in these bizarre times I suddenly found myself cleaning a hotel bedroom again. The irony of paying a three figure sum to stay in a hotel then wiping over all the high contact surfaces myself was not lost on me, but then nothing is normal in the new normal.

It was the first time I had stayed in a hotel since the corona virus started and erring on the side of caution, I would probably not have chosen to stay in one then, except that it was a booking which had been made for the spring and moved due to the imminent lock down.

However, never one to write off £100 needlessly we decided to bite the bullet and use the reservation which was for the Francis Hotel in Queens Square in the centre of Bath. Bath: one of the loves of my life with its superb Georgian architecture, great restaurants, theatre, spa, the list is endless.

Corvid 19 seems to divide people into those who don’t give a shit to those who go into complete hibernation. In a slightly vulnerable category, I contented myself with cutting down on the more sociable side of life but as much of our enjoyment comes from open air activities like riding, cycling or walking, it was not too much of a sacrifice.

But as they say in Malaysia: same, same, but different…  We boycotted indoor entertainment like pubs, cafes, restaurants, theatres, cinema and even charity shops. I bought a coffee at an outdoor kiosk and suddenly realised it was the first one I’d bought in 8 months.

So the Francis Hotel was a new departure for me, one that would normally have been combined with a day’s shopping and a nice supper. Beautifully situated in a central square which was built between 1728 and 1736 with an obelisk and golden autumn trees, it is in a nice old Georgian building. Flags hang each side of the metal scrolled door.  

One of the great advantages of Bath: free motorbike parking on the streets. Normally we could have parked opposite the entrance but sod’s law the square was under renovation so we had to park in the next side street.

Donning our masks we set off for the hotel. There was a one way in and out system and on the stairways. Warning signs abounded. The check in chap was in a mask behind a plastic screen. I hesitated to hand him the credit card and put my number in; it is a duller colour now even though it is quite a new card – I am sure it is due to the number of times it has been wiped over with steriliser.

Our room on the second floor meant traversing a long corridor and holding our breath as we passed the cleaner. On entering the room, we set to work: wipe all the table surfaces, the back of the chair, the light switches, the door knobs, the remote. I washed all the glasses and wiped the complimentary bottle of wine.

The room was pleasant enough: quite spacious with a double bed, acceptable without the wow factor. This was more apparent in the bathroom in the large walk in shower: one wall consisted of a photo of the Roman Baths, which was very striking. 

A walk before dinner took us up to the delightful circle of the Circus where 33 houses radiate around 3 streets. They were designed by John Wood and date back to 1754. We wandered on back streets via James Square to Lansdowne Crescent, which was started rather later, in 1767, by John Wood the Younger.

The Crescent is only 150 m long with 30 houses but it would count as one of my favourite walks in Britain, a unique example of Georgian architecture. Recreating the grandeur of the great country houses in a city setting, they were desirable residences then and even more so today.. 

They are particularly atmospheric in the quiet of the night, with the twinkling lights of the city spread out below. My footsteps echoed on the paving slabs as the grand front towered above, a timeless scene of architectural perfection. Sometimes the achievements of our ancestors are breathtaking.

It is interesting to note that although John Wood bought the square from London to Bath, the crescent and the circus originated in Bath.

We retired for the night after a cheese and wine flight in our room, forsaking the complimentary bottle of cheap plonk for a 2004 Barossa cabernet which was a lot more acceptable.

The next morning we were so early for breakfast that staff had not even had time to put their masks on. More suitably attired when the full breakfast came, we wondered if the young waitress was a University student but decided she was just Polish. Nevertheless, we did not risk a second approach with a coffee top up. 

We checked out and walked out into the cool morning. It felt good to take our masks off and draw the clean air deep into our lungs. The new normal has certainly taken the edge off one’s enjoyment. I am fed up with masks, constant hand sterilisation and viewing people as possible plague carriers – lets hope they roll out a vaccine quickly.