By Chrissy Iley
This week I had a last minute trip to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion. To hear her sing and hear the recorded ca-ching of slot machines and watch other people behaving badly.
Being at a Celine show is like being in a cocoon of love. That woman feels every nuance of life and she throws it right back at you.
She was non-stop for 2 hours, amazing energy, amazing legs, and the right coloured honey blonde hair. At the start of the show we were faced with images from Celine’s past. And you see another incredible thing; this woman has defied the laws of aging and beauty. She has got more beautiful as each year has passed. In the beginning she was weird looking and she knows that. She still carries that person within her which is why she connects with her audience.
It was as if she was singing every song to her husband Rene – she filled with love. I wondered how she would cope as he was sick with throat cancer. She had been feeding him through a tube for months herself. The next day he died.
So I woke up fuelled by love and compassion and went own to get a coffee at Starbucks at the Luxor Hotel where I am staying.
There was a huge line, but when I eventually got to the assistant, I handed her my card and asked for a flat white. I can’t function well without coffee, it is like Celine without love.
The lady asked me for ID. I did not bring my passport to Starbucks so I had none. I offered her 20 other credit cards, but she wanted picture ID. I offered her my BAFTA membership but it wasn’t government issued. The line was getting longer. She asked if I could put it on my room. Sure, then she said I wasn’t checked in with that room number. I replied that I was sharing the room with my friend and he had left my name at reception so I could get my key so surely I was registered at that room.
Anyway, I gave her the name of my friend hoping that would suffice. But no, she said she would call management. I said I would recheck in my purse. I presented her with the only money I found, a £20 note and a hundred dollar bill. She looked at me so blankly and with such small eyes I thought it was finally over, so I said “I hope the end your day today is as bad as the way you made me start mine.” At this point she said she was calling security. She flounced off.
What was she going to call security for? Me attempting to buy a coffee for a hundred dollar bill? Me not carrying my passport to enter the State of Starbucks? For the hotel’s inefficiency to put my name on the room? Or at least remember that it had been put there?
I sat down, I really wanted the coffee. But then I thought I am going to have to even work harder for it, and what if I have to go back to the line? Surely the adrenalin was enough to get me through my day so I trudged back to my room.
There is much fun to be had in Vegas – it’s still party city – but with a sad edge.
There are many hotels to stay in in Vegas, once inside there are much of a muchness. I am sure there is one that does not treat their guests that badly. Luxor, Starbucks, have a rethink.
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