What's Floating Around Cloud 9? 25 July 2016

Welcome to another week and did you know that last week was National Two Left Feet Week here in the UK? Here at Cloud 9 Towers it got us thinking. Are there any hotels and venues in the UK that cater specifically for anyone who in addition to having two left feet, might struggle if they are left handed?

Let’s face it. In many ways, the world was designed for right-handed people., but around 12& of the world’s population are lefties (If we are allowed to use that term). It must be pretty tough to be left handed and statistics show that left handed people die at a younger age from accidents than right-handed or ambidextrous people.

Simple things that we take for granted like using a computer must be an issue and if you are using something like Excel and you need the numbers then on your keyboard they will be on the right. It’s not all bad news though as studies have shown that left handed people tend to be better at 3D perception, which makes them well suited towards the design and architecture industries. Four out of five of the original designers of the Macintosh computer were left-handed!

Additionally, Studies have shown that when faced with a decision regarding which queue to join (and you know how much we are like queuing the UK), most people will veer in the direction of their dominant hand. That means lines on the right are usually longer than ones on the left. As a result, people who are drawn towards the left side will spend less time waiting.

But back to the hotels and venues. Well, there was a little news back in 2001 when there was an announcement about a brand-new Flemings Hotel opening in Frankfurt, called Flemings Left-Hotel.

Everything in the hotel was optimised for the left-handed - from door knobs to faucets, from nail clippers in the bath rooms to the computer equipment in their business centre. The hotel manager as well as all of the staff were left handed apparently, and then it turned out to be an Aprils Fools Day Joke.

However, whilst we can’t find a hotel that seriously caters exclusive for Left Handers, we can find a destination and it just happens that its one we know quite well here (Paula has been several times).

Mullingar, in County Westmeath, Ireland become the Left-handed Capital of the World back in 2013. Mullingar in the native language translates as the Town of the Left Hand Mill and legend has it in the seventh century (aren’t we informative!), a local miller refused to grind St Colman of Lynn’s barley as he was already using his mill to grind wheat for the King. Colman then caused the mill to move anti-clockwise so it could grind both the wheat and the barley which is where the name comes from.

If you want a truly international Left Hand Day, then you need to wait until August and then you can really embrace being a leftie!

Have a great week & enjoy!