Singapore (Personal)
I know it sounds so exotic to be on a World Cruise, but quite truthfully, there are also the mundane activities of daily living that are a trial. For example, Carter gets most of his laundry taken care of, but I have to wash my own clothes. Carter’s clothes are washed by the crew laundry, but their timing is random. Sometimes we get the clothes back in 2 days, and other times it is 4 days. It just depends on the paying passengers and their needs. Crew is always relegated to the back. So, I do most of our wash, other than his uniforms. This works ok, but what is normally a non-thinking task becomes all consuming. First of all, the officers are able to wash for free on the 7th floor. We live on the 6th floor. Unfortunately, there is only one washer and dryer and it can only be used from 8am-8pm. So it has become my quest to find out when the machine is the least used. There are probably 25-30 people who can use this machine.
My day may begin with a trip upstairs just when it opens, to find that the machine is in use. I try to plan a 2nd trip up, lugging the dirty laundry, the soap and the Chlorox, when I think the first load will be finished – in addition to time allotted for the person to have come back to move the wash to the dryer. Often, I will get there and find that the 1st person has not returned and there is a note on the washer, “Do not remove my clothes.” A 3rd trip and 4th trip may ensue. Often it takes 2 hours just to find an empty machine.
As time has gone by I realized that few people want to wash between 12 noon and 2 because this is when they are taking naps. Or that few people want to wash on a port day, so that gives me a chance. Several times I have flooded the entire wash room – washing machine malfunction and the last time the dryer sounded as if it were drilling thru steel. It makes you appreciate your simple washer and dryer at home.
Another trial has been trying to decide which side of the bed we are each to sleep on. I have slept on the left side of the bed for 35 years. This particular bed is mashed up against the wall, on the right side. There is an armoire at the end of the bed on the right, so it is a trial to get out of bed if you are sleeping on the right. The phone is on the left. Carter made the excuse that he thought he should sleep on the side next to the phone, but the real reason was that he didn’t like to climb over my legs and scoot out of bed at the foot of the bed when he got up at night or tried to get up in the morning. So, reluctantly, I agreed to move sides. It has taken some getting used to, but we are adjusting. I have started to fluid restrict myself, so I don’t have to get up in the night, but the phone excuse was bogus. He doesn’t wake up to the phone, so I wake up when it rings, then have to wake him up so he can answer the phone. The one good upshot is that my blankets are tucked in under the mattress, so I have more control on them. Carter can’t hog them all……so good can come from adversity and we aren’t too old to learn new tricks.
The hallway outside our room now smells like coffee or sugary sweet rolls. Interesting.
Labels: Personal
posted by Hills @ 6:21 PM
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