hostel life ... and prisons

I really like staying in hostels. This is not just about saving money, but more for the social factor – even if I were to win the big prize on the Premium Bonds, I think I’d still stay in hostels, albeit with the occasional night or two in a private room (space to unpack, dry laundry and repack, less disturbances to my sleep, etc). But sometimes it can be a strange experience, at least if you always stay in the cheapest hostel in town, as I do. I’m quite relaxed about the state of cleanliness, but was still surprised to get a bed twice in the last six weeks, once in Lithuania and once in Latvia, with unwashed bed linen. In the first instance, there was only a weekly visit of a cleaner, who apparently (I didn’t see her) did a cursory sweep and restocked toilet paper and washing up liquid – but she didn’t do any laundry. Most of the occupants were there for quite a while (immigrants either looking for work or already doing low-paid jobs) and so put their own b...