Several years ago, I ran across a story of an 82-year-old woman named Beatrice Miller who decided to become a permanent resident on the Queen Elizabeth II, traveling the seven seas to sunny destinations, playing bridge and "dancing with handsome stewards." She announced at that time that it's well worth the 3,424 pounds ($4,818 in 2001) a month to reside aboard ship rather than rust away in a retirement home in Britain's infamous dampness.
Sea life must be working for her, because at age 89 she's still aboard the QE II as its only permanent resident, although her passage now costs £3,500 ($5,472) a month as of November 2008. She royally exclaimed to the BBC, "We're spoiled to death!" That spoilage is due to come to an end when the QE II docks for the last time in Dubai, and Mrs. Miller will have to jump ship to find a new berth.
There must be enough people in her plush position to attract the entrepreneurial. In Florida, there is an opportunity for the deck-heeled to buy a 1/100th share of a cruise ship for a sum ranging from $159,000 for a single state room on up to $399,000. That, and an additional monthly maintenance fee, "covers everything." For such a miserly sum, there will be much for a plank owner to do. Where the ship will go and when is always up to a majority vote of the owners. The ship will call Port Canaveral home when it isn't cruising to the Bahamas or going on its "big cruise" somewhere in the Americas. The idea is catching on, for the ship is about 25% purchased.
Coming ashore from the world of the Fantasy Island cruise, reality for too many is more is like that of Gene Sargent, who cruises the Sea-Tac area rather than the Seven Seas. His almost $700 monthly Social Security income doesn't cover eating gourmet meals and arriving at tropical destinations. He convoys his remaining possessions in a trailer towed behind his aging truck, moving from spot to spot when the police invite him to sail away. He already has a fair amount of company, and their numbers are expected to double in the next 15 years, according to a study study released in February by King County and the City of Seattle.
Article comments
1 - roger nowosielski
A very touching article, Realist. These are the hidden, rarely talked about casualties of the present crisis, and their numbers are certainly growing. There used to be a saying that only one or two paychecks stand in the way of the person from becoming homeless; by today's standards that would be considered a luxury. And part of the problem here is, the homeless have become invisible in our society, like an outcast, a minor inconvenience or a nuisance only only looks past - nor real human beings. And it's so easy to explain it away by referring to their drug-problem, which is to say, they brought in on themselves.
I've lived in the Bay Area for the past thirty years, the first ten years in San Francisco until the Loma Prieta. Then I forced to move to Oakland. A few times I was down and out and was forced to live in residential hotels, month to month; and they make you move out before thirty days expire less you gain residential status. And a few of those times I stayed in the SF residential hotels. I wouldn't live there any longer even if I had the money - so depressing it had become. The homeless live from day to day, blank expression on their face, like walking zombies. And we've all learn to accept it.
Gavin Newsom has been doing some things, like turning these residential hotels to the city's administration; and if you're on a general assistance or some kind of disability, you stand a chance to get in. But it's a slow and arduous process to accommodate the growing armies of the homeless. And SF is an exception.
You may have just given my an incentive to write a piece of this very topic. Take care, buddy.
2 - roger nowosielski
Your last link is an eye-opener, BTW:
"Sarah Palin's pick for Alaska's Attorney General: 'If a guy can’t rape his wife…who’s he gonna rape?'"
This should convince almost anyone about the integrity of Ms Palin. She indeed is and ought to remain a fair game.