Chapter 26: A Quick Move

When I first moved into Europa Suites, I thought that having a flat (apartment) on the ground floor was an advantage. It took less time to get to and from the flat, and as my Mum pointed out, it was close to the laundry facilities. However, a number of things would quickly change that perception.

Europa Suites

At the end of my first week, I was finally settling into my flat 0003A. I'd unpacked, and done a grocery shop. Not being a big fan of cooking, I'd stocked up on Microwave meals and tins of soup. There was only one problem. The microwave didn't work. For some reason, Europa Suites decided to go all space age with their cooking equipment. Instead of physical buttons, and dials you could turn, this microwave had a touch screen interface. However, the touch screen wasn't sensitive to pressure, but to heat. Apparently if it was a hot day (which it often is!), or humid, this affected the touch interface, preventing the interface working at all. It was also most affected on the ground floor. I reported this immediately to Europa Suites management (at reception), and I was told that it was a known problem they were looking into.

Microwave buttons that aren't buttons!

So I didn't have a microwave, but I still had a stove. I'd just heat up some soup on that. Unfortunately the stove has exactly the same touch interface as the microwave, so this didn't work either. I now faced the prospect of nothing to eat, and a lot of food that I had bought being wasted. Europa Point is pretty quiet (in fact dead) by evening, and there are no cafes or restaurants to get food at after realistically 5pm. I figured I was paying rent for a kitchen that didn't work. I went back to reception and complained. The cheerful girl kindly offered to heat up my food in the reception microwave, which was a proper machine with buttons.

Europa Point is pretty dead by evening!

The second event happened round about the same time. One morning when getting my breakfast, I noticed a massive colony of ants had invaded my kitchen. There was a straight line of them going from the sink to a bag of rolls on the worktop. I reported this to reception too. The girl at reception must have by this stage thought I had a crush on her, as in addition to regularly taking meals there to be heated up, I was now making another visit to reception to report the ants. She called the house keeper, who appeared at my door a few minutes later. The housekeeper was shocked at the amount of ants, and sprayed some chemicals, which brutally killed them off. I felt a bit sorry for the ants, until I heard later, that a girl in a ground floor flat had found ants in her bed. I'd have probably felt far more blood thirsty, if that had happened to me.

I could have been savaged by ants!

A few weeks later, my kitchen was still useless, and after the incident with the ants, I was highly motivated to get off the ground floor. I had been consistently raising this with Europa Suites management, but had got nowhere, so I raised it with the university instead. A member of staff at the university contacted Europa Suites on my behalf, and although there were no other flats available, they would put me on a waiting list for other floors. I guess I'd be continuing my relationship with the receptionist at dinner times! After a month and a half, there was still no progress. I raised the issue with the university again, at a meeting I had with one of their staff about a few different items, such as the difficulty finding part time work here, and whether I would be able to keep my car in Gibraltar (due to new laws preventing me from importing my car into Gibraltar). I had not long got back to my flat, when there was a knock on the door.

The University of Gibraltar came to my aid.

It was the Europa Suites supervisor Pablo. Pablo told me he had just had a call from the university, requesting I be re-assigned flats. Europa Suites now had a spare flat on the first floor, but Pablo needed me to move within the next 20 minutes, as there was a new tenant arriving at 12 noon, who they were going to give my current flat to, 003A. It was 11.30 now, and the cleaning staff would need to clean it before the handover. So I had 20 minutes to move my stuff. It's amazing how much stuff you have when you need to pack it! I hate packing at the best of times, but under the pressure of time, this was a challenge worthy of the Crystal Maze! I stuffed as many of my belongings in my case as I could. The rest of my possessions I threw into black bin bags. Not yet having the keys to my new flat, I took the bin bags of my possessions down to the basement and put them in my car.

Useful for something!

At 11.50, I wheeled my case along to reception and handed over my key to the manager. He gave me my new key - flat 104A. The cleaners immediately rushed into my old flat to get it ready for the new arrival. Surely the new tenant would also complain about the kitchen equipment, or maybe they didn't eat? Pablo took me up to flat 104A, and demonstrated that the microwave and stove worked. He also pointed out the room had a 'balcony',  before rushing back downstairs to make sure my old room was ready. The first thing I did was unpack a dish, cutlery, and a microwave Chicken Korma, and try heating it up. The equipment functioned adequately, and I could now feed myself. If you think though, dear reader, that I'm living the high life with a balcony, I should point out, that the balcony is basically a rail and a sheer drop. No sitting out on the balcony eating breakfast and reading the paper for me!

My balcony!