It’s a rogue’s gallery – and I don’t mean the other guests. Bedspreads with the same patterns used in the jigsaw puzzles used to keep disturbed mental patients occupied are ubiquitous in the rooms I stayed in 2009. Too bad the mangy moose in Jasper wasn’t more common. Among my questions: for what worrisome reason do most Irish rooms feature blood-red decor? (Can we blame the English for that too?)

Most pics are mine, a few - where the bedspread pattern left me too stupefied to snap - are yanked from the web.

Watch for more rogue’s galleries covering 2010 and 2011.