Looking for accommodations in Second Life

Along with dancing, one of my great pleasures in Second Life is looking at homes for rent or sale, especially if they are decorated, because I love to get ideas for my own apartment and maybe even my own house someday. However, I stumbled across one place that certainly gave me pause.

I found an apartment block that had definitely seen better days. The rather forbidding looking landlord was there and showed me around. The building was a good sized one containing three units as well as a common area. On entering into the common area I felt cockroaches run over my feet and a rat nip at my ankles. Not the best introduction. The landlord however was oblivious to this and pointed out the laundry area with a washer, dryer and vending machines. While this was handy, I am not sure if the machines were actually in working order, as there were clothes hanging on a clothes line, indicating that the dryer was not functioning.

He then took me down a narrow hallway to the one ground floor unit. I noticed an eviction sign on the door of the apartment. No doubt this landlord showed the poor tenant no mercy and callously evicted him when he had fallen on hard times, keeping all the furniture as well.

The main room contained a bed, fridge, oven and sofa. I was assured that the appliances worked well, but I have my doubts. The owner also pointed out a fire alarm and fire escape just outside the window, explaining that all safety codes had been met.

Just off the main room was the bathroom, with a sink, toilet and bathtub. They were not in the most salubrious condition and I didn’t actually touch anything, so who knows if the water was connected or not. From the looks of the building, I would say not, at the very most there would only be cold water.

I asked the landlord how much he was charging for rent. He told me it was L$750 a week. I felt this was outrageous and tried to bargain him down, but he was a hard man and would only go down to L$725. He even had the nerve to show me another unit which had a computer included, but as this was a Commodore 64 (according to him a very up to date machine) I was not impressed and decided to go elsewhere. But first I will go and take a long, hot shower!

Hibiscus Hastings