A mystery
Very strange night last night - it was my second night staying in the hostel, first night on my own there, and I went to bed fairly early because some of the other people in the (8 bed) room insisted on turning off the lights at 9.30. Probably hoping we'd be less likely to notice they were screwing.
I was awakened in the middle of the night by lots of moving around, there was some whispering and people using the screens of their phones as torches. I expected them to leave quickly, but when they persisted and kept making noise I checked my phone. It was 4.30 in the morning. Pretty pissed off, and knowing I had to go to work early in the morning, I lay there sort of half-asleep, and trying not to get so worked up that I woke up fully. Next thing, someone props open the door (which is right next to my bunk) with a rubbish bin, letting in the bright light from the hall landing. I was just about to say something about how pissed off I was and how this was totally unreasonable, when the guy shouts "Room XXX, bunk 6 - someone is dead!"
So, obviously I didn't tell him to stfu and close the door again.
I looked around to see if I could figure out which one bunk 6 was, and I could just see 2 or 3 people at the other end of the dorm doing the torch-phone thing again. They didn't seem quite as freaked out as I would have thought they should be, but then the door guy shouted the same thing again, there was a bit of milling around, and they all went out, shutting the door after themselves.
Looking around, I could see the other people in the dorm stirring; they'd obviously been woken up by now. I waited sort of expectantly for 5 minutes or so, in case a doctor or security guard, hell, even the receptionist, turned up, but there was no sign of anyone arriving. And no one did.
The people who had left apparently met up with some more people in the hall, and settled down to what sounded like a heated discussion. I don't know if the 'someone is dead' thing was supposed to be a joke - in any case I didn't hear any laughing - but it didn't seem to be too serious either. I figured out at some time later that bunk 6 was actually right next to mine, and the occupant was very definitely alive, at which point I relaxed a bit. I still couldn't sleep because of the noise in the hall, so I found my earplugs, and they helped enough for me to sleep.
This morning, I was pretty groggy with lack of sleep, and couldn't locate my glasses under the bed (I swear I left them there last night, but they still haven't turned up) so I had to take my contacts to the bathroom to put them in. I also brought my clothes for work, key card so I could get back in, hairbrush, and phone because I didn't want to leave it on the bed. Thus burdened I set off down the hall.
The bathrooms on my floor had a big out-of-order sign on the door, so I had to go to the ones on the next floor up. They were small and crowded, and I managed to drop my phone in the bin in the process of trying to organise my contacts. I eventually got sorted, dressed and hairbrushed, and went back to the dorm with about 15 minutes left to have my free breakfast and head to work. Except that when I got back to the dorm, I didn't have my key card with me. I realised straight away that it must have dropped in the bin at the same time as my phone, but not having any available lenses I hadn't noticed.
When I arrived back at the bathroom, I was horrified to discover that it was in the process of being cleaned. The bin - empty. I asked the uncooperative leaning woman, and she told me that the rubbish had been taken outside. More than that, I couldn't get out of her.
Now, it's not just the key card I was worried about. I had tucked it into my Oyster card wallet for safekeeping, which contained - obviously - my Oyster card with my ticket for getting to work, but also more disastrously, my free drink tickets, dinner vouchers and driver's licence.
Well, to cut a long story short, (because this is getting ridiculously long, even by my standards) I eventually tracked down the bin bag in question, and found my card etc by a process of looking through that morning's rubbish. Not pleasant, and not at all what I needed first thing in the morning, but at least I got to work on time, and had something to eat when I got there.
That leaves just my keys to lose, and I'll have been through the full set. Or my phone, although strangely enough, I've never lost a phone in my life. The closest I've ever come to that is about 8 years ago, when my first phone fell out of my pocket in the computer lab at college. I noticed it almost as soon as I'd left the room, and when I went back for it it was still under the chair. I wonder what specifically it is about phones that stops them going the way of wallets, keys and handbags? Most mysterious.
I was awakened in the middle of the night by lots of moving around, there was some whispering and people using the screens of their phones as torches. I expected them to leave quickly, but when they persisted and kept making noise I checked my phone. It was 4.30 in the morning. Pretty pissed off, and knowing I had to go to work early in the morning, I lay there sort of half-asleep, and trying not to get so worked up that I woke up fully. Next thing, someone props open the door (which is right next to my bunk) with a rubbish bin, letting in the bright light from the hall landing. I was just about to say something about how pissed off I was and how this was totally unreasonable, when the guy shouts "Room XXX, bunk 6 - someone is dead!"
So, obviously I didn't tell him to stfu and close the door again.
I looked around to see if I could figure out which one bunk 6 was, and I could just see 2 or 3 people at the other end of the dorm doing the torch-phone thing again. They didn't seem quite as freaked out as I would have thought they should be, but then the door guy shouted the same thing again, there was a bit of milling around, and they all went out, shutting the door after themselves.
Looking around, I could see the other people in the dorm stirring; they'd obviously been woken up by now. I waited sort of expectantly for 5 minutes or so, in case a doctor or security guard, hell, even the receptionist, turned up, but there was no sign of anyone arriving. And no one did.
The people who had left apparently met up with some more people in the hall, and settled down to what sounded like a heated discussion. I don't know if the 'someone is dead' thing was supposed to be a joke - in any case I didn't hear any laughing - but it didn't seem to be too serious either. I figured out at some time later that bunk 6 was actually right next to mine, and the occupant was very definitely alive, at which point I relaxed a bit. I still couldn't sleep because of the noise in the hall, so I found my earplugs, and they helped enough for me to sleep.
This morning, I was pretty groggy with lack of sleep, and couldn't locate my glasses under the bed (I swear I left them there last night, but they still haven't turned up) so I had to take my contacts to the bathroom to put them in. I also brought my clothes for work, key card so I could get back in, hairbrush, and phone because I didn't want to leave it on the bed. Thus burdened I set off down the hall.
The bathrooms on my floor had a big out-of-order sign on the door, so I had to go to the ones on the next floor up. They were small and crowded, and I managed to drop my phone in the bin in the process of trying to organise my contacts. I eventually got sorted, dressed and hairbrushed, and went back to the dorm with about 15 minutes left to have my free breakfast and head to work. Except that when I got back to the dorm, I didn't have my key card with me. I realised straight away that it must have dropped in the bin at the same time as my phone, but not having any available lenses I hadn't noticed.
When I arrived back at the bathroom, I was horrified to discover that it was in the process of being cleaned. The bin - empty. I asked the uncooperative leaning woman, and she told me that the rubbish had been taken outside. More than that, I couldn't get out of her.
Now, it's not just the key card I was worried about. I had tucked it into my Oyster card wallet for safekeeping, which contained - obviously - my Oyster card with my ticket for getting to work, but also more disastrously, my free drink tickets, dinner vouchers and driver's licence.
Well, to cut a long story short, (because this is getting ridiculously long, even by my standards) I eventually tracked down the bin bag in question, and found my card etc by a process of looking through that morning's rubbish. Not pleasant, and not at all what I needed first thing in the morning, but at least I got to work on time, and had something to eat when I got there.
That leaves just my keys to lose, and I'll have been through the full set. Or my phone, although strangely enough, I've never lost a phone in my life. The closest I've ever come to that is about 8 years ago, when my first phone fell out of my pocket in the computer lab at college. I noticed it almost as soon as I'd left the room, and when I went back for it it was still under the chair. I wonder what specifically it is about phones that stops them going the way of wallets, keys and handbags? Most mysterious.