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Published: February 14th 2011
I slept a little more easily on the rock-hard bed, though I think I hurt my back a little trying to sink into it. In the middle of the night I came up with a method of doubling and redoubling my blanket to make a mattress pad that helped a bit.
The owners helped me carry my suitcase down and helped me watch for the bus, which was nearly half an hour late. No explanation was given, just that "Russell was always late." Apparently there are two drivers on the route, Phil and Russell.
The journey to Whitianga, while very scenic, was rather painful. For a long time the road wound along every little indentation of the coast, and then it climbed in a series of switchbacks up and over the mountains. The roads were of rough country asphalt, and the bus had no suspension to speak of.
Fortunately, I had the best seat on the bus for my purposes, in the back against the left-hand window. I was able to brace myself with my legs and keep my shoulder steady.
On the Beach Backpackers is great; indeed, it is so perfect that I have been greedy and spoiled things for tonight. I am ashamed of myself; if I had behaved better, this place might very well have been a perfect memory for me.
The problem was that I've been assigned an apartment. I have one bedroom in it and there is a second bedroom. The people in that bedroom and I are supposed to share the kitchen and living area of the apartment.
I was thrilled to have an apartment, and I was spending time in the living area even though I have an excellent bedroom. When it began to cool off at dusk, I shut the door to the balcony.
The Swiss couple from the other bedroom objected. They said they had to have it cool in the common area to cool off their room so that they could sleep at night. I said in that case they ought to have their door open; how else would their room cool? When they opened their door, I saw that their window wasn't open either. I protested that if they wanted to cool their room they should open their window.
The man said that they did not want their window open because it would create a draft and they would get sick. I retorted that I would get sick if the common area cooled too much. They said that in that case I could go to the office and ask to be moved.
That made me angry, rather than just frustrated, because we had both arrived today, so they had no more claim on this apartment than I did. I retorted that THEY could go to the office and ask to be moved; they said I was the one with the problem; I said we both had a problem with the temperature.
We all went round the mulberry bush again, and this time I behaved very badly: I went into their room to try to show them that I thought they should open their window; I thought they had not understood that part of the argument. They were justifiably outraged. That's most of what I'm ashamed of; I know better than to violate someone's personal space like that. I was raised better than that.
Eventually the man agreed to shut the door once he was ready to go to bed, so that it would not get too cold in the night, and he has done so, and I've thanked him. I hope it stays shut, and it doesn't get too cold in the night. It is not supposed to drop below 18 C, but the forecast has been wrong before. I worry about them, if they really can't sleep when it is too warm. I notice that they have, now, opened their window, so they may be having second thoughts about compromise too, as I have.
I went off and thought about it and decided that their demand had been fair, anyhow. The common areas had, admittedly through no wish or act of theirs, been at a comfortable temperature for me all day. It was fair enough that it should be at a comfortable temperature for them in the evening, as long as it was shut at night so it wouldn't get dangerously cold in the wee hours.
I tried to tell them this; I am not sure they understood. They replied curtly that as long as I said nothing more about them, or their door, or their room, and as long as I did not touch anything that was theirs, there would be peace. "If not," they said, "there is no peace."
It's good that they'll be leaving tomorrow. I wish I had not been so carried away with the excitement of having an apartment that I tried to really treat it as though it were half mine. I have the bigger bedroom, and I do have a space heater here; I am not really at risk. In fact, I am, to some extent, being a dog in the manger.
Well, when the next lot of people come, as they probably will, I will try to be more reasonable. And I will certainly not go into their room.
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bbaggins
AKA Thobby and Classicist
Clarification
Commenting on my own post, let me add that I didn't realize I had a space heater until the third go-round of the argument. It had been brought in while I was out. So I didn't realize till then that I had a way to recover if the cold common areas made my room cold. But I didn't adjust to that new reality quickly enough either.