Bournemouth Tour - Day 1

I collected all my passengers this morning and we headed south in the pouring rain with no hope of it easing up. All of my passengers were a little disheartened by the weather. But this week I am working with my friend and colleague Karen, who is very loud, very outgoing and a lot of fun. We were chatting and laughing and enjoying ourselves as soon as we hit the road and it didn't take long for our mood to become infectious throughout the coach and people started to relax and get in the holiday spirit.
This week I am driving our latest touring coach which is very comfortable, drives nicely and has the WOW factor when it is seen on the road. So although it's not unusual, once again this week I am the best looking coach and driver in the coach park and I haven't even seen the competition yet! ;-)
As we were travelling, the rain continued and I had to decide where I was going to take our group for a lunch break. Although I get a lot of pleasure from dropping my passengers in the middle of a city that they don't know in the pouring rain, I decided to be kind today. We went to Haskins Garden Centre near Southampton Airport. As far as garden centres go, this one is very nice, with a wide selection of good food which to be honest, is a bit over priced, but I don't worry about that because I get mine for free! There is also a Hobbycraft store next door, just in case anyone needs new knitting needles or crochet hooks.
We got in touch with our hotel to see if they would mind us arriving early because the weather was getting worse and I could see no point in dragging out the day. The hotel had no problem with that so after a leisurely lunch and a spot of retail therapy for most, we made the short journey on to our hotel in Bournemouth.
This week we are staying in the Hotel Mirimar on East Cliff. I'm a lucky girl lately. Last week my favorite hotel, this week a hotel equally as good but lacking in eye candy! 
The Mirimar describes itself as the 'country house hotel overlooking the sea'. The staff here are so helpful and the place has a real family, homely feel to it, without lacking in quality. Guests are expected to dress for dinner which is served silver service. When we arrived, refreshments were served in the lounge while the porters delivered our luggage to our rooms. We had a nice relaxing afternoon settling into our new surroundings before this evenings dinner. I lay in the bath and watched last nights episode of the X factor on catch up.
This is another hotel, just like the Imperial last week, where we, as a group eat from the same menu as any other guest in the hotel, which is becoming more and more unusual. Our food was as good as I had remembered it to be and nobody has had a bad word to say about anything. 
So after dinner and an easy day, I left Karen to entertain the troops while I disappeared to my room to watch tonight's episode of X factor on catch up. I hope Shelley doesn't get voted out tonight!