Interlude #6: Death by Ceiling

Sooooo...there I was sitting at a desk in a hotel room (that shall remain nameless) in Malta; quietly researching the discussion topic for the 'activity' that seems to be a part of all university applications in the UK. (Just a side note, I was a candidate in three of these 'activities' while interviewing for jobs in the UK - two presentations and one discussion topic. In all instances that question/topic was horribly worded so that they barely made sense and I wonder at the effectiveness of them. The one for Exeter was particularly bad as the questions asked in my discussion bore no relevance to the question whatsoever...but I digress)

Anyway, there I was diligently working away on my laptop with the TV going beside me. I think to myself, 'you know what, that bed looks mighty comfortable and I can see the TV from there. I might just waddle on over and work from the bed instead of this perfectly functional desk."

Taking my own advice I switch locations and settle in for an evening of prep work (it was quite late a night), however, it seems that fate had a different idea.

It commenced with a shocking loud craaaaaack! and I had just enough time to shout "what the f..." (I'm not censoring blog, I literally did not have time to finish the word) before the world came crashing around me Chicken Little style.

When it rains in Malta it pours.

In case you are having trouble interpreting the photo what you are mostly seeing is large chunks of ceiling generously interspersed with shards of desk. The cave in completely crushed the desk yet amazingly my phone survived unharmed despite been thrown across the room. My pocket watch was not so lucky and had to be extracted from the rubble. It had stopped working but I got it repaired for like 20 euro and used its not workingness to extort a couple of night free accommodation at another hotel of high quality. Oh, and that piece of ceiling resting innocently on the chair would have brained me if I had decided to stay.

 

The view from the releative safety of my bed; you can see the missing patch of ceiling. I say relative because because I was covered in debris and a hug chunk of rock embedded with steel was found under the bed...

I survived, but it was close. The most scary part was that I had to extricate all of my belongings in the world (I was still living out of a suitcase at this time) from the room with the constant fear the the rest of the roof would go. I hid in the bathroom a lot and had a clear exit path to the balcony ready. I felt kind of safe knowing I would get a half second warning if the rest decided to come crashing down. The funniest part? talking to the hotel manager the next day....

"yeah, this can happen if water seeps through the ceiling, there's not really much we can do about it..."

Pretty sure you can do something about that chummer, in fact, I presume that's a pretty major part of your job...