It was a shocking day because you never believe that such a massive building could burn to the ground, so seeing the pictures and even visiting it the next day didn't feel real.
You don't realise until it's gone but Falmouth Beach Hotel was a major institution in Falmouth and there were hundreds of holidays, functions and weddings that went up in smoke with the end of that beautiful hotel. Although all of us who worked there moaned about the lack of teapot lids and the complaining guests, I would give anything to have it back.
It seems like the end of an era as the people I have worked with for the last 2 and a half years, who are some of my closest friends, are now being pulled away from me and dispersed among other hotels throughout Falmouth. It's very sad to know that our little group will never all work together again.
I'm trying not to remember the hotel as the burning mess that it ended in, but rather as the place I made best friends. I will remember the Falmouth Beach Hotel as the founding place of the infamous Fal Beach 5, the place were Claire Barron slipped over with the scrambled egg, smacking me in the face on her way down and the place where Alex Leach sent her 'do me' eyes to Steven Walker.
All of the windscreen wipers pulled up on everyone's cars, the MCW cloth and John Spargo's frozen tea plot are just some of the memories I will be taking away with me.
Never again will I be squeezing through the 'moist flaps' of the freezer, sneaking a bit of brownie off cut in the kitchen or singing show tunes in the still room.
It's a very sad time for the Fal Beach family (mostly because of all of the polished glasses that have been lost and the amount of wine that was in that wine cupboard was enough to live off for a good few years) but at least we have the memories.
I saw the fire on TV and was so upset, we had many holidays in that hotel.
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