The Visit

A week after 'The Argument', William, then the Cripps Manager, approached me and said that a man from the council had said he was responding to a complaint, and had come out to inspect the site.

Or maybe Hayley told us that week, and I discussed it with William the next week - I forget.

The man had said

it ought to be at the inner end of the passage, blowing inwards 

(where it used to be before I found it wasn't cooling the room).

He also said that

Ceroc 'Escape' Weekenders, where an entire Pontins Holiday camp is taken over for a whole weekend of dancing used the big fans like that - blowing onto the dance floor.

I pointed out to William how the fan was on wheels, so that it would pivot out of the way with a simple push, and was no more of an obstruction at one end of the passage than it was at the other.

He agreed that what I do was as good or better than what the man suggested, and I have continued on that understanding.

I said it was odd that the man would specify the direction of airflow, and that he knew so much about national Ceroc events.

It wasn't until June 2015 that I thought about it again, with new management. I approached the Assistant Managers to discuss the use of the big fan, confident that we could come to the same understanding.

It has been suggested that that was a mistake, but the bar staff stand there all night, looking directly at the big fan in the exit, so we couldn't exactly keep it a secret.

The Assistant Mangers would not exercise any discretion, and not allow anything in or near the Fire exit routes.

Thinking again about the visit, it struck me how extraordinarily well the guy that complained had briefed the guy from the Council and how exactly their suggestions agreed, although offering no real improvement - almost as though they were clones.

Then it struck me that they might actually be the same person. The complaining dancer is into dressing-up, even as a 'female impersonator'. It would not be out of character for him to impersonate a Council Inspector. Extraordinary lengths to go to try to win an argument, though !

We could contact the Council and request a copy of the visit report. I suspect they will respond 'What visit?'

Of course it may not be good for either Ceroc or Trilogy to ask the Council if Cripps has been inspected.