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Holiday Boundaries

Simon Reilly

Way back in February, we booked what we thought was the perfect holiday B & B on Salts Spring Island. As you will see by the Adirondack Lawn/Beach Shot, the pictures on their web site looked aesthetically pleasing.

What their web site didn’t demonstrate was the road noise that started at 5am and ran almost continuously until 10pm at night. The B & B was located on a main road at the base of a large hill so the vehicle throttle noise was magnified as the engines labored to get up the hill or the bigger trucks were using their exhaust brakes to use the engines compression to decelerate coming down the hill – BRARARARAR!!!

Was it just me I thought? Was I some hoity-toity consultant from afar that had to have perfection?

If I would have wanted noise, I would have gone back to where we lived in down town Vancouver.

To be fair to the owner of the B & B, because walking away from our booking would have made it impossible for them to book the week on short notice, I went down to the sea shore by the Adirondack Chairs and it was just as loud as being inside the B & B.

I asked Laura if she thought it was loud. Laura confirmed that it was.

As tough as it was on the owner, I contacted them and told them that we just could not stay there for a week indicating that we were looking for peace and quite. I really felt for the owner because they were quite upset. At the same time, I felt that I had to put our needs and holiday first as we had been looking forward to peace and quite on Salt Spring Island for quite some time. To be fair, I paid for 50% of the entire week. (As I reflect while I type set this Blog a week later, I am clear that I did the right thing.) I do however feel for the owner of the B & B who turned out to have leased the B & B. So loosing a week’s income for them would have been huge for them. At the same time, there is a lesson in Boundaries for all of us here. Be honest with yourself about what is best for you and take a firm stand, don’t compromise or settle … this is not a dress rehearsal.