Arrival - 5/23

Home Sweet Home

Got to Port Washington early Sunday afternoon and met our landlord. The apartment is larger than I expected and "semi-furnished" which means it has a couch with ottoman, and a dinette table with one chair. We have apartment number one of three on the second floor with the ground floor being unoccupied retail space. We rounded out the decor with our inflatable queen-sized mattress and a few items from the fine furnishings departments at the local Target and Walmart. There was one furniture faux pas on the first day. Regarding an outdoor plastic chair sitting on the fire escape, our landlord said, "That's from an old tenant, I don't remember who. Why don't you put it in the apartment?"

Terry asked, "Are you sure no one is using it now?"

"No go ahead and take it."

The next day the landlord called. "I got a call from one of the other tenants asking if I knew what happened to their chair. Could you please put it back on the fire escape?"

I made sure no one was around and put it back although it's pretty obvious to anyone we were the likely culprits. There's no better way to endear yourself to new neighbors than stealing their furniture.

Our Home Theater System

The building has all the traits you might expect of a structure over 100 years old. Probably 30 coats of lead-based paint cover the walls, but that's OK since it helps seal in the asbestos undoubtedly inside the walls. Electrical outlets are sparse and not necessarily where you would expect them. I couldn't tell you the last time I even saw working radiators, but we won't be using the heat. Our parents and grandparents endured winters with large chunks of scalding-hot, exposed metal in nearly every room and lived to tell about it, but today if you buy a lamp you get warnings in ten languages - complete with illustrations - telling you not to stick your finger in the socket. We've become pretty pathetic.

The old county courthouse tower has a clock face on each side. Unfortunately the clock is six minutes fast. It would have gone unnoticed, but bells chime on the hour and half hour. Now when I hear six bells I know it's 5:54. I'm guessing resetting the clock requires some sort of key lost decades ago, so everyone just lives with it. At least that's my theory.