Thanks for the Stress Dude

After Christmas, Laura found a position at a preschool. It was a great place with a number of American children and a small brush with fame. Nick Rhodes (from the band Duran Duran) sent his daughter there. Most of the interaction was with his nanny but he sometimes stopped in.

We decided to rent a flat with our friend, Cherilyn. It was a two-bedroom, basement flat in Earl’s Court. Even though it was lower than the street level, there were still windows in the front and a little walk-out patio in the back. The back faced the side of the Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre.

The beautiful thing about living in Earl’s Court is that it is officially in Central London. That is not only a physical reality but also a psychological one. It is a dream come true for many a young person to live in central London. We had arrived. And although the closer you get to the center, the more expensive it is, at least I now only had to get a travel pass for Zone 1 instead of 1 and 2.

While I took the Tube to work, Laura had to take the bus. The timing for the bus was a bit of a catch-22 though. If she left too early, she would catch an early bus and get to work too early. If she left too late, the bus might be running late and she would be late for work. So when the weather was nicer, though it was a bit of a hike, she walked. There was only one drawback.

In every city, there is always ongoing construction all over town. But construction jobs are usually filled by younger males who are typically immature and lecherous. Every time Laura walked to work, she would get hoots and whistles as she passed the construction sites. They were busy areas though, so no danger.

Laura continued to babysit for American families. And since all their expenses were paid to live in London, they paid very generously. We would make a night of it, babysitting together and just hanging out in their nice homes after the kids were in bed. It was so expensive to live in London that it took both our salaries just to pay for our expenses. The babysitting money was our fun money.

All couples come up with their own little shorthand and unique sayings. That’s part of what being a couple is about. There’s a museum in London called the Museum of the Moving Image or MOMI for short. We incorporated that into one of our ditties. If one of us said “WOW”, the other would say, 

                    “What’s that backwards?” 

                    “WOW.”

                    “Upside down?” 

                    “MOM”. 

                    “Upside down and backwards?”

                    “MOM”

                    “Upside down and backwards with an “I” on the end?””

                    “MOMI.”

At my work, the other guy and I continued to pull orders for different stores but oftentimes there were things missing. We didn’t trace who did what order so we couldn’t figure out who was making the mistakes. But it the cause of ongoing tension and potential employment issues. Then one day, during an inventory, a very expensive lens was found to be missing.

Although both of us denied knowing where the lens had gone, we were obviously both under suspicion. The pressure was intense. Everyone with access to the warehouse was investigated. It was finally discovered that the owner’s right-hand man had “borrowed” it to test it out without telling anyone. Thanks for the stress dude.

Windsor
                        

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