MOVING MAY GIVE ONE THE ILLUSION OF CHANGE but it isn’t possible to escape reality. In other words, you can run but you can't hide. Covid is still eating its way through the population, the Election grows even more contentious and its outcome less certain, and it looks like the end of civility—if not civilization—as we know it may be near. Still, we must soldier on.
Dining Area
Living Room
We exchanged our rental car at the airport on Thursday and loaded the black Chrysler up today for the four-hour drive to Fort Myers Beach on the Gulf Coast. We have twice spent a month near here in the RV and decided it would be a nice place to hang out for a while. We found yet another AirB&B rental, this one just north of Lover’s Key State Park and across the street from the beach.
Kitchen BC (Before Connie)
At first glance this condo is perfect. From the covered parking up the elevator to the functional kitchen and spacious great room overlooking the boat slips and upstairs to the two en-suite bedrooms and balcony, Royal Pelican is the best AirB&B yet. Upon further review, however . . . .
Kitchen AC (After Connie)
Dominic must have listed this place with AirB&B on a whim. This is someone’s home, not a vacation rental. It is filled with all the detritus of their lives, emphasis on ALL. Dozens of family photos, scores dust-collecting tchotchkes—I haven’t seen so many Hummel figurines outside of Germany. The linen closet is packed to bursting with no two towels matching and the bedroom closets look like the owners skipped town in the middle of the night.
And no two items match!
The kitchen cabinets were filled with opened cracker boxes, nearly empty peanut butter jars and all manner of spices, flour, sugar, frosting and who-knows-what in no particular order. One lower cabinet was filled with Tupperware-ish stuff just tossed in willy-nilly and the pots and pans were tumbled in a likewise manner. And I won’t even mention clutter in the storage closet with the sprung door.
Connie's Tupperware Party
Anyone who knows Connie will understand that she would be genetically obligated to organize the mess. We repurposed the dishwasher for storing the excess mismatched dishes and flatware that we won’t be using, then shoveled the plasticware into garbage bags and stored them in the extra bedroom. But she couldn't sleep until she had sorted out the mess and matched containers to lids. More needs to be done but before we went to bed the place was organized enough so Connie wouldn’t have nightmares.
Goldilocks said "This bed is just right." And she fell asleep.
On the plus side. . .the air conditioning is quiet and efficient. The bedrooms are large and each room has a ceiling fan. We have two full bathrooms plus a downstairs powder room. Each level has a screened balcony, the wifi works great and there is a huge TV with all the satellite offerings. And, yes, Goldilocks, the bed was just right!
