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June 24, 2007
The Apartment
How best to describe our teeny weeny itsy bitsy temporary apartment.
It’s teeny weeny. It’s itsy bitsy.
The bedroom, at the opposite end of the apartment from the bathroom (?!), is wide enough to fit only a double bed, and two narrow side tables. There are two windows overlooking the courtyard. We had to peel the tape off the window to open it for some fresh air. At the end of the bed, on one side, is another window with an air conditioner. The knob is stripped, so we have to pinch it to turn it on. But the line doesn’t line up with anything so we have no idea what we turn it on to. And it randomly blows black bits into the room. At the end of the bed on the other wall is a tall bureau, on top of which is a huge TV. I think a TV in the bedroom is a huge and unnecessary luxury.
The living room/ dining room is small and dark. There is a sofa, facing an enormous TV, and a chair with no arms. In the dining part of the room is a small table with four chairs. And next to the table is a small desk. In our condo, the dining room table is my desk, so actually having a desk is a bit of spoil. The plaster in the corner behind the TV has been repaired for whatever reason, but not painted.
The kitchen is another thing altogether. A good kitchen is important to me. I can work with small, but not with bad. On Platina, our kitchen was small, but it functioned extremely well. Believe it or not, a small kitchen on a boat is a good thing, because cooking at sea is no small challenge. Wedging your posterior against the opposite counter can save you from stumbling with a sharp knife. In our first NY apartment on the Upper West Side, where we lasted only a week, it was a bar fridge, a sink, and a two-burner hot plate. The tiny round table doubled as the counter. In our second NY apartment in Midtown, our kitchen was a closet. Literally. Two of us could not fit. And I often used the top of the fridge as extra counter space. Our condo has a beautiful kitchen, which I enjoy using frequently. I have often said to Chis that it is too big.
The kitchen in this temporary apartment is better than our other two apartments, but nothing like the condo. The most fun is the neighbours. The kitchen window of our closest neighbour is about three feet from ours. We could trade recipes. They have pulled their blind down halfway, so all I ever see is below their torso. It’s an elderly couple, and they eat their meals at the same time everyday, and sit in the same place.
The kitchen sink is shallow, probably 5 inches deep, so that the dishwasher could fit underneath. The dishwasher is vintage, and I cannot find zero-phosphate dishwasher detergent up here, so I wash everything by hand. I ran the dishwasher once, and it sounded like an airplane taking off. The fridge runs non-stop. I think the seal is broken. There are about 3 feet of counter, which is enough to get a meal done. It’s the mouse poo on the counter that I can’t tolerate. And the teeth-marks in the butter.
The bathroom is fine. The toilet is tiny. I think it would be a challenge of trajectory for large person. The floors seem to have been finished several times, one on top of the other, because the tub is sunken about halfway into the floor.
There is no lift in the building, which is fine by me. The stairs are very steep, and the floors are like old hospital floors. I check periodically on the status of the dead cockroach at the front door. It’s still dead.
There is laundry and trash/recycling in the basement. I did laundry yesterday. I don’t think the dryer lint collector had been emptied in months. Next to the laundry machines are a series of rodent and insect traps. “Sweet Banana” says one. Beneath which it says “Do not touch rodents or insects in trap”.
Day 5. 25 days to go.
Posted by dave at June 24, 2007 10:40 AM