O perfil de whitewing

Siendo una chica de pueblo, hacía tiempo que parábamos en una ciudad. Fuimos hace poco a una conferencia de trabajo en el Hilton Metropole. Tiene suficientes instalaciones como para hacer la conferencia de forma brillante, y nos encantó en particular la pequeña fila de cabinas al fondo de las salas de conferencias donde los intérpretes se podían sentar y traducir la conversación. Nuestro hijo probó la piscina varias veces y se lo pasó genial. La suite era limpia y cómoda, exactamente lo que te esperas. Fue la primera experiencia de mi hijo con el servicio de habitaciones y estaba tan contento. Fueron muy pacientes por teléfono ya que hicimos que el niño pidiera la comida. El chaval que la trajo fue fabuloso, e hizo la experiencia muy especial para nuestro hijo. generalmente el hotel es tan grande, y sirven a tanta gente que no escogeríamos quedarnos en un sitio así. De todos modos tiene mucho personal, personas muy amables y eficientes, muy humanas. La zona alrededor del hotel bulle de vida ¡y probablemente vimos más gente en una hora que la que veríamos en casa en un mes!

Comme je suis une fille de la campagne, ça fait un bout de temps que je ne me suis pas arrêtée dans une ville. Nous sommes allés au Hilton Metropole récemment pour une conférence de travail. Il y avait tout le nécessaire pour organiser la conférence parfaitement, et nous avons particulièrement aimé la petite rangée d'isoloirs au fond des salles de conférence, dans lesquels les interprètes pouvaient s'asseoir pour traduire dans nos écouteurs. Notre fils a testé la piscine à plusieurs reprises et s'est énormément amusé. La chambre avec salle de bain attenante était propre et confortable, excatement comme je l'attendais. C'était la première fois que mon fils expérimentait le service en chambre, et il était terriblement excité. Ils étaient très patients au téléphone, car nous avons laissé mon fils appeler pour passer commande. Le gars qui nous a apporté le repas était vraiment fabuleux, et il a rendu l'expérience très spéciale pour notre fils. De manière générale, l'hôtel est si grand, et sert tellement de clients, que ce n'est pas le type d'endroit où nous choisirions normalement de loger. Malgré tout, les employés étaient humains, très gentils et efficaces, une fois dépassé la façade professionnelle. Les alentours de l'hôtel sont très animés, et nous avons probablement vu plus de gens en une heure que nous n'en voyons d'habitude en un mois chez nous !

I went in here on a Monday morning to pay in a cheque. It isn’t a particularly welcoming place: it seems to 'tower’ over you as you stand in the queue (it’s an old building so there may be building restrictions). There were customers in front of us so we had to wait a while, which didn’t bother me. A lack of privacy at the counter meant that we could clearly see the cashier counting out £1000 in £20 notes for one of the chaps in front of us.

When we did get served the cashiers were fine but relatively impersonal compared to the general vibe in Axminster. They weren’t overly smiley but there was nothing specific to complain about. Not as friendly in general as our local branch.

I’m not a particular fan of Lloyds Bank normally, having received some shoddy service in the past at my own local branch. So I wasn’t expecting much from Axminster, being as the branches are normally variations on a theme in all towns.

It was quite a surprise therefore to find the biggest, brightest, most well-cared for bank in Axminster (we visited Natwest and HSBC too on the same morning).

We popped in for a current account balance. This was dealt with straight away by a very polite and thorough cashier. As we didn’t normally bank at this branch, the cashier asked for a signature and checked this against the debit card before the printout was handed over. We have visited a number of different branches over the past 12 months and have never had to sign before so we were quite impressed.

There were plants for that welcoming feel and plenty of space in the customer area. With its clean and tidy feel, it certainly seemed the most ready of the banks for a Monday morning.

Need a weighted shower curtain? Here’s the place to go. Want to buy flowery sheets? You can get them here. Need a Union Jack mug with matching coaster? This is your place.

From laptrays to woks and bath mats to bins you will be able to buy it here at a reasonable price with high quality.

A good place to mooch around for stuff you need, and stuff you didn’t know you needed.

I must have walked past this place in the heart of Axminster many times but have only just noticed it is a building society.

I am looking to set up an Isa so thought I’d take the opportunity to pick up a leaflet for perusal later.

The assistant (an older lady, possibly themanager?) was dealing with someone when we went in, but was able to handle the query efficiently so we were hardly kept waiting. Honestly, in both her dealings with the other customers and with us, the assistant was fantastic. I would love to steal her to work in our business, but I think we’re a bit outside her normal travelling distance.

We were given a fully prepared pack of a variety of leaflets (that I haven’t yet had time to leaf through), as we were 'new customers’. In today’s centralised, computerised world, it is refreshing for someone to even notice that they haven’t seen you before.

Definitely a good place to go.

This shop is stacked full of gifts for the discerning shopper. There’s a good range of old-fashioned style children’s toys, including a dolls house and dolls house furniture. The gift toiletries are beautifully packaged, including Isle of Arran’s After the Rain range, which I absolutely love. There’s Emma Bridgwater crockery (the chunkiness of which I absolutely adore, and which indicates that I am in the type of shop I like, although I’ve never found an exact design that I would want to buy). There are suitable gifts for the 'older’ and sometimes more difficult generation. The shelf of handkerchiefs was prettily arranged; do people still buy these?

Birthday and occasion cards are high quality and classy designs, including 3-D cards.

The staff smiled and said thank you as we left the shop, which is something to remark upon in this day and age…

We popped in on a gloomy Monday morning to pick up some brochures for a dream holiday in Central America. In sharp contrast to the greyness of the weather, the chap inside was friendly, cheerful and efficient. He was interested without being intrusive, and addressed our requirements without attempting to bore us with rambling sales patter. This impressed me as we were the only customers there at the time so I wouldn’t have blamed him for trying too hard.

I would definitely use this place for booking a holiday, provided the price is right!

Nous y avons fait un saut un morne lundi matin pour récupérer quelques brochures pour des vacances de rêve en Amérique Centrale. Contrastant avec la tristesse du temps, le type à l'intérieur était aimable, enjoué et efficace. Il a fait preuve d'intérêt sans être envahissant, et a écouté nos attentes sans nous endormir avec un speech de vendeur. Ca a été une agréable surprise car nous étions les seuls clients à ce moment-là et je ne l'aurais pas blâmé s'il avait essayé de nous retenir. Je recommanderais certainement cet endroit pour réserver des vacances, à condition que le prix soit correct !

I went in here for the first time last week and it is now a firm favourite. It is stacked full of all the kinds of high quality, well-designed stickers, papers and embellishments that I love to use on my scrapbooking projects. I did manage to restrict my spending to less than a tenner, which was very difficult given the huge range of goods they have. Don’t go in on payday!

My husband was impressed with the painting supplies, and my friend would be delighted with the gorgeous materials available for card-making.

The lady in the shop was kind, friendly and helpful. No wonder this was 'Business of the Month March 2008’. We will be going back.