Interview with a retired Montserratian man (narrator), January 18, 2005:
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KP: Why did you stay?
Narrator: Oh, well. [2 second pause] The option of starting at my age, late sixties, the option of starting again was not…very good. My wife did not want to go away, to…to…to, to go, to go, she didn’t want to leave Montserrat. And so we just decided that we would be among those on the last boat, on the last boat going out. Here we are.
KP: And you’re very happy you stayed?
Narrator: Yes, I’m happy, because…yes…we’re building a new house yes so and we uh. And so my wife got what she had always wanted a house with a very big view of the sea. So, so am I.
KP: Do you feel like you’ve gained anything from the eruption, or the hurricane disaster? Do you feel like you’ve personally gained anything?
Narrator: No, I have gained nothing. Nothing, nothing, absolutely, I’ve lost, tremendously. In consequence of the eruption, not the hurricane disaster. The hurricane they had minimal damage, but we were reimbursed by insurance for, for the hurricane, So I had nothing, I didn’t lose anything in the hurricane, but [laugh] the eruption has…well it’s taken not only my house, but we had some lands which are all in the inaccessible, never to be, these are on the other side, the side which took the brunt of the pyroclastic flows so we lost significantly…
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