Noretta Motel

Stratford, Ontario is the town where the literary and culturally minded folks flock to in the summer months for the Shakespeare Festival… so you wouldn’t expect crummy motels in a place like this. At least I didn’t. Now, maybe it was the off-​season, so they had to fill their rooms with the help of the Ontario welfare system — that’s where the problems begin.
All night we heard fighting and swearing in the room next door. By the morning, the players were outdoors, in the snow, carrying out their little drama for the sleepless audience. At five in the morning, I finally looked out my window to see a drug addled young man standing outside in his underwear, screaming to whoever about whatever. The police showed up an hour later and the drama unfolded even further, as crazed man’s wife (who he couldn’t contact anymore) and another man had barricaded themselves in the room. My husband and I filled out witness reports as the motel’s owner stood by sheepishly. Not a single apology or offer of recompense came from him. What a loser!
How would I describe the room? Lipstick on a pig might be a quick way of describing it. While it was reasonably clean, putting carpet over a pot-​holed floor is not exactly fixing the problem.
Methinks you should not visit this place unless you are seeking a grittier type of dramatic experience in Shakespeare town.