Imagine a post-apocalyptical type prison in the year 2019 from a 1980’s perspective, and you’ll get the setup of the Generator Hostel London—because trusting the images up on the website seem to portray a utopia of well lit rooms of reasonable size, a chair and people somehow finding the strength to smile while being faced with a photography probably exclaiming “Look happy as you do something attractive and fun”. Post-apocalyptical seems like a fitting title for how much it seemed like that kind of place that would be left standing in the bombed out remains of London—from a 1980’s perspective—while giving each person a gun to defend themselves.
It isn’t the greatest place on Earth, when you start to consider the possibility that sleeping outside during the cold October night to be better than the confinement of a room—of many rooms—that had gained the general opinion to be simply shit. Two bunk-beds that took up most of the little space to exist for myself and three cohorts were the only redeeming quality of the room (sleep through the hours within the shit room), one sink that provided undrinkable water (raising many unanswered questions) and no chair (the website seemed to content to make it clear that the room would have one).
The experience of seeing the room—along with the stuff above—had one good thing outcome of making it a habit to stay out as long as possible, just to avoid any reason to stay in those rooms longer then required.
Everything outside the room only added a reason to reference The Prisoner with quoting something along the lines of “I’m not a number! I’m a human being!” Since each room has its number painted onto each door like it was screaming something about your status in the general scheme of things (decent reason for The Prisoner reference). Also they made a feeble attempt to appear hip with using bright neon kind of colours throughout the place along with pointless sheets of hip-like metal about the place—I thought the place shared visual similarities to a type of Laser Tag centre scattered somewhere about the country (not a plus).
Drinking from the bar is more of a chore and makes breaking the rule of no outside drinks that much more tempting to break (myself and a cohort brought vodka to drink anyway). Proving your age is an annoyance when the place seemed content to promote its young hip style on their website, yet have someone checking a person age outside the bar—sucks when I forgot my ID while appearing to be someone turned twenty.
Before we got to the Generator, a sense of foreboding existed from the moment it was clear how you had to reach the place—through an alleyway. Not the greatest joy to know and only proved true when we got there, so my overall impression of the place was unimpressed.
Thought of the Day: October 15th:
Completely got ahead on something to do with my work and got a nice surprise out of a trip to London: two things were said and I got a nice moment of oddity—also the first time I talked without a problem, strange really.
Nice written…