Count on Vitamin C and some old folk wisdom to save my ass

[DFW]

There is a hotel in Sprout City I often stay at when I'm on the way back home from Paris, but have things to do in Belgium as well. About 15 years ago, I got authorization from my head office to spring for a hotel in Brussels rather than come all the way back here to Düsseldorf, and the then get up at 5 AM the next day to turn right around and make the 4 hour trip back to Brussels.

The trouble is, the dollar is very strong against the Euro at the moment, and American tourists are flooding Europe these days to take advantage of that. I tried to book a room at my usual hotel for the middle of the week, but their website said they were completely full, no rooms available. There are other places to stay in Brussels, of course, but this one is right at a métro stop on a line that goes directly to both major train stations, and is near the offices I work with in town. It has good security, and I know most of the people who work there. They know me, too, and I can speak to just about all of them in their native languages. I stay there so often, I get a lot of upgrades and breakfast buffets for which they don't charge me. If I HAVE to, I could look for someplace else, or make the trip all the way back home from Paris, and then go back to Sprout City the next morning. I didn't mind doing that 30 years ago, but the mileage and the years are adding up. Besides, with the ever-increasing price of train travel, I don't save much, if anything, by doing that any more.

Since I DO know most of the staff there, I sent an SOS email to one of the guys I know who works there, one of two genuine native Belgians (out of a staff of maybe 35), and asked for a miracle--for him to check with reservations and find me a room in case of a cancellation or one being held in reserve "just in case." Some hotels keep a room in reserve just for such situations. Their reservation computer never knows about them, and therefore can never offer them. Only an email or a phone call with "hi, it's me" can reserve those rooms.

I just got back an email this morning. It said miracles are their specialty, my miracle has been granted, and I have a room waiting for me when I get there.

A Jewish friend of mine once told me (and I have no idea if it's true or not) that David Ben Gurion once said that "he who does not believe in miracles is not a realist." This morning, you can consider me at least a temporary convert to realism.