Our Time in Tampa

Martha and I rented a fully furnished third floor walk up apartment. Cindy and Jerrel rented an apartment in the same building.  We had common walls, but we had to walk down three flights of stairs and then back up three flights to visit each other.  Rent was $78/month.  Needless to say, we banged on the walls to meet in the lobby which was "guarded" by our landlord.  She watched everyone who came in or out of the building.  One time Martha and I broke the bed and had to sneak the broken bed frame down to the basement, past the landlord, where we knew there was a replacement bed frame, then sneak the new bed frame back up to our apartment.  We accomplished the switch undetected.  The apartments were infested with cockroaches and termites.  Martha wore my cowboy boots all the time because she feared the "bugs".  Pat and Pat lived in a small house closer to McDill AFB.

If the band had no performances scheduled, our job was easy.  Most days we played bridge while at the base and as soon as we were dismissed we went fishing.  I had purchased a nice boat from a sergeant who got transferred to England.  It actually had a cabin with two beds in it.  We had some good days fishing and some great fish fries.

Here is one story that I remember from our time in Tampa.  The McDill Airforce Band was scheduled to play a mid day concert at the outdoor pavilion in downtown St. Petersberg, Florida,  When the bus and truck carrying the band equipment drove up to the venue, we were totally surprised because there were hundreds of people sitting in the seats waiting for our concert.  We complimented our host for the great job of publicity.  We did our concert. It was well received and we were happy.  A few days later, Martha and I were shopping in St. Petersberg and we happened to drive by the pavilion.  We noticed another large crowd, however the stage was empty!  I guess the senior citizens just congregate there every day.  We laughed.