SYDNEY, N.S. -- Jack and Robin Murphy have spent the past five months living at the Cambridge Suites in Sydney, N.S.
“We've been here for three seasons now and we didn't count on that. But my God, it's like being home,” says Jack.
The Cape Breton couple moved into the hotel after their home was lost in a fire while they were on vacation in the Dominican Republic -- a fire they say was arson.
“We have our own issues, of course, with the fire, like anybody would. It's been a long road and we're not there yet, but we're working our way through it,” says Jack.
Just days after the couple moved into the hotel, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Maritimes.
“I had to say we were quite comfortable to know we were being managed by the noise we heard twice a day of someone sanitizing our doorknobs. It was incredible, we felt very comfortable,” says Jack.
Hotel manager Michele Bianchini says she and the rest of the staff at Cambridge Suites have grown quite fond of having the Murphys around.
“As they know, people who have worked at the hotel since COVID have been away from their families, because they've been working 24/7 and long hours. So they became our COVID family,” says Bianchini.
Jack and Robin aren’t sure when they’ll move out. They say they've been enjoying a picture perfect view of Sydney Harbour and, ever since restrictions were eased, they've been able to get out and enjoy easy access to the downtown.
“They even surprised me one day when I got off the elevator with a birthday cake and a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ by the staff,” says Robin.
The couple is expecting a new grandchild soon and they say, after a quarantine they won't forget, plans just might be in the works to give the baby a fitting name – Cambridge.
