A couple of sleeps until the big day, the new Manor House and let the hotel open.

 A couple of sleeps until the big day, the new Manor House and let the hotel open.

Ladies and gentlemen. You are all kindly invited to book in advance for the opening of a new hotel in the heart of North London. Around the corner from us here in Manor House are some of the most luxurious bed and breakfast hotels along the Seven Sisters Road, sandwiched between Arsenal's Emirates Stadium and the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium which really does bear a resemblance to a spacecraft from the outside.

But now everybody another development has lit up the dark wintry night sky of North London. Next to a set of traffic lights at Manor House Tube station is the very latest in avant-garde rest and relaxation sanctuaries. It is, you'll be delighted to hear, a Travelodge hotel in the middle of a catchment area where a whole procession of cars, buses, lorries, cyclists and vans almost continuously rumble and thunder their way past the Tube station. They then head towards a Harringay industrial park where electronic and electrical shops sit in contented juxtaposition with supermarket giants, a Poundland, the smoothest of all lattes in a Costa coffee shop and everything that pays homage to commerce. 

On the corner Macdonalds, that celebrated and now legendary burger joint, stands proudly and unashamedly as if oblivious to the detrimental effect it might be having on the kids of the next generation. In another incarnation, this was the site of the old Harringay greyhound track and it is hard to imagine how a Sainsbury's could have had the chutzpah to take the place of a dog track. Then there was the speedway venue which regularly accommodated hundreds and thousands of fans and enthusiasts many moons ago.

But now the wonderful world of modern architecture has meant that Manor House is the new home of breathtaking new apartments, towering ziggurats that soar into the North London air and are apparently very comfy or too cramped according to your point of view. We are surrounded by huge acres of bricks and mortar, tall and imposing properties that almost touch the sky but not quite. At some point in the future they'll actually finish these buildings because flats and apartments are the new zeitgeist, the in thing, very fashionable.  They'll also set you back a second mortgage to even think about laying keys on. 

It looks as if the new breed of middle-class professionals and dotcom entrepreneurs have arrived and are ready to take over Manor House. Around the back from where we live there is the stunning Woodberry Down, a real class act. Where before there was dullness and dowdiness now there is funkiness. Woodberry Wetlands is the most amazing wildlife sanctuary, the new home for kingfishers, great crested grebes, swallows, adorable Canadian geese and butterflies, hundreds of them on a nice summer's day. 

However, as you walk back onto Green Lanes there is the most eye-catching and uncharacteristic sight of them all. Yes folks it's a Travelodge Hotel which has only taken the best part of a century to complete. On second thoughts that's a gross exaggeration. Let's settle on 99 years and counting give a year either side. Seriously folks a Travelodge Hotel looks as though it's ready to open its doors at any moment. It's hard to tell because the sign is up, the doors and windows have been fixed and somebody famous may be required to cut the tape to make it all official. 

Shortly though the hard-working construction workers wearing those very fetching orange hard hats will be milking all the applause and praise that can only be so thoroughly deserved. The Travelodge hotel will be throwing open its doors to hundreds of passing businessmen and women, reps and local office workers who need a good night's kip and a place to rest their heads. But you can't help but think that the Travelodge won't be turning down those tourists and holidaymakers who just want to sample the delights of Finsbury Park, the Seven Sisters Road and bumper to bumper traffic. 

Still, here we are in a worsening global pandemic and the attention turns to the Travelodge, an impressive looking hotel literally half an hour or so from the West End of London. It really does look very inviting and glamorous but you have to question the necessity for any more hotels. It's not even as if there are any sandy beaches or souvenir shops selling windmills or buckets and spades nearby. And there is certainly no briny sea nearby or bobbing boats. Manor House is not Southend nor could it ever be uttered in the same sentence as Bournemouth.

It's two days to go before and the kitchen staff are taking their last brief, the chambermaids are plumping up the bedroom pillows and the reception desk is ready and waiting to take its first influx of guests. The Travelodge is getting so excited it can hardly contain its excitement. Meanwhile, the hairdressers is shut yet again and you really do feel deeply sorry for them. The gym which you used to frequent has put up its shutters and there was still an infuriating queue outside our local chemists. And yet we're still here at the end of a year that seems to have gone on forever. We're grateful for our health and we've still got each other. You've all got star quality everybody. Take a bow.