Author:
Debbie
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Date Posted: 23:06:07 01/07/03 Tue
Stop, you're making me jealous Robin! Oh what I would have given for an $850/month 1-br apt with a cardboard box for a table!
For years I worked at the psych hospital in Bda and lived in a tiny room in hospital staff quarters (think YWCA!) named the "Queen Elizabeth II Nurses Residence," but which I suspect was actually built in the reign of Elizabeth I, with few upgrades since. I lived on a floor with 15 others, all on different shifts, sharing a tiny communal kitchen, shower room, and bathroom.
My room aboard the anything-but-posh QEII was the SIZE of a cardboard box, had no heat/ac, or soundproofing/wall insulation for that matter. And I didn't even have room for a table, much less own one! For that they deducted about $500/month from my paycheque.
With the mix of people living (I was the only American), there were a lot of "cultural differences" and personalities to deal with. Most were fine, but I never did get used to the Caribbean nurses who liked to get an early start in the kitchen (5 am) by boiling up a nice fish-head stew. Mmmmmm mmmmm good! Now THAT was a smell to greet you at 6 am as you stumbled down to the shower room. Even worse was walking into the kitchen for coffee and having to look at said fish-heads bubbling away in their uncovered pot, looking up at you....
Then I was lucky enough to find a TINY studio apt. for $750 (no furniture, heat/ac or ocean view) but with an ancient stove and fridge, both so rusty I suspected that's why the Hospitals Board required staff to have current tetanus shots. I slept on the floor (still more comfy than the twin bed the QEII provided, seriously!) for a few weeks till I could buy a second-hand bed. And the guy in the apt. next door was part of a "gombey" troupe, Afro-Caribbean dancers who dance wildly to very loud, thumping drumbeats and whistles. He must have been quite good because he practiced a LOT...
Yeah, Robin, talk about the Good Life we rich chicks have lived!
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Rich--HAH! I wish.
Re: drummers/flutes