Rising Damp

OK, one more slightly negative thing we're learning about in our house-hold and then I promise I'll get to stories of sun and sand.

Mold is something I've read about and been warned about, and didn't quite believe until I saw for myself. My friend who used to live here would talk of it being so humid that even your sheets sometimes felt damp. I couldn't imagine that. The last apartment I lived in constantly smelled musty, and my towels never dried unless I draped them over the hot water heater. One day I looked at a wooden cabinet and saw that the whole front was covered in green mold!

I thought that living in a new place, we'd be spared. But after a particularly humid week, I noticed it all over the bathroom door and the shoes hanging in my closet. I guess we need to stay on top of that.

Pictures soon, I really hope (but not of green mold). We are having an extremely hard time trying to get our internet working at home.

Denial, it's not just a river in Egypt.

It's starting to happen. The thing I was warned about, that until now, I was in complete denial about. Cockroaches. Big ones.

I've been told it's better to see the big ones over the small ones. They come in from outside, and are not a sign of "infestation" (I hate that word!). Being a warmer climate here, they are everywhere, and it's just a fact of life.

Sunday night, there were 3 sightings, and one murder. It's the theory that two of them (the one that died) were actually the same one, but really, who knows. The first was seen running out from under the dryer. At least the laundry room is sort of separate from the rest of the apartment. We think it came in around the dryer vent which hasn't been sealed yet. The other 2(1) were seen in my roommate's bathroom and then closet at 2 in the morning. Thank goodness for the can of Raid on hand. She said she didn't sleep much after that.

As I didn't see any of them, can I be stay in denial? Please?

(no pictures because we still don't have internet at home. And really, I'm sure you don't want a picture of this).

Finally... almost there.

By the time I get home, we should finally have internet and cable. Aside from a few days where I discovered I had the internet at my temporary apartment, I haven't been connected since I got here, and I haven't watched TV since mid-March. I can't wait! Of course, we don't have a TV yet, but that'll happen soon.

Although we've been slowly accumulating furniture, it's mostly been for our bedrooms. The rest of the place is very empty and echoey. The only chair in the apartment is a chair that goes with a little desk that I bought. We've agreed to buy the contents of someone's place who is leaving in June. They've said we can have most things sooner (hopefully Saturday), but we are still waiting to hear. Until then we are using plastic cutlery, cups and bowls. Very ghetto.

There's so much that we need - from doormats to coat hangers. And for some reason, there seems to be a shortage of hangers in the stores. Weird. I've bought out the department store, and I'm waiting for them to get another shipment in.

Moved.

Still waiting to get internet at home –hopefully, it should be a matter of days. In the meantime, here's a good Bermuda shot of a famous ship called the Spirit of Bermuda, but I thought the houses with their bright colours and white roofs are very typical of what it looks like here.

I've moved into the new place. As they've literally just finished construction, there's a few things that we are discovering that need to be fixed. The washing machine is unbalanced and so hops around the laundry room when being used. The kitchen tap has the wrong pressure or something, and comes out as a trickle, and until yesterday, we didn't have the use of our oven/stove because the wrong cable was sent with it. Whatever though – it's an awesome apartment, and it's huge. I can't wait until we have furniture!