Last week I stayed in an hotel near Burton on Trent. It was one of a well-known, no-frills but perfectly acceptable for one night, chain. You know the sort. 

But as long as they offer a comfortable bed, WiFi and a TV they are perfectly acceptable for a short stay. Having checked in, I went up to my room and as I opened the door my ears were assailed by a rather irritating, low but insistent buzzing noise.

Rather than immediately phone down and complain, I thought I would try to locate the source and perhaps solve the problem myself. 

My first instinct was that it was something to do with the heating provision. Most modern purpose-built hotels have the room temperatures set at a level that is only exceeded by hospitals, invariably far too hot for everyone who works there or visits; but I guess the patients have priority in that case. 

The first thing I usually try to do in a hotel room is open a window or turn down the thermostat. I turned the heating off on this occasion. The noise persisted. 

I turned off and unplugged every electrical device in the room and finally removed my room card from the switching device by the door designed to save electricity.

The buzz continued. So I rang reception and a very helpful young lady came up and was similarly baffled. She went through all the actions I had already tried, even removing the fuse for my room. 

As I was suggesting that I should perhaps be offered an alternative room given the far from sleep encouraging noise that showed no signs of abating, she pointed to my unopened bag and suggested that the noise might be coming from within it. 

Until that moment neither of us had been able to pinpoint the source of the buzz. But, inside my bag was a battery operated razor which I had bought some time ago for emergencies, but never used. It had somehow managed to turn itself on. 

The only thing that rescued me from the embarrassment of my own unintentional error was that my willing and now very amused helper had been for ten minutes as baffled as I was. 

I suppose it at least saved me the greater indignity of demanding a new room and finding that the buzz followed me down the corridor to my new room.