Welcome to the building
I got a note from the building manager this morning, hand-delivered by one of the maintenance guys. “Please call me A.S.A.P.”
It’s one of those things where I still get very, very, very, nervous. I suppose there’s a certain level of nervousness that goes along with it, but given my history with landlords, well, for me, it goes right off the scale.
The first place my head went was, “but my rent check didn’t bounce.” The next place was wondering if I’d forgotten to close the blinds and maybe someone across the courtyard saw something they didn’t want to see. Or if the guy downstairs was complaining that the floor squeaks when I walk around at night when I can’t sleep.
None of the above.
Apparently, I’m considered something of a model tenant. Or a least objectionable tenant. Or something.
The manager asked me to move into the apartment above him. Seems that the new tenant there works “B” shift and gets home just before midnight. Then he has the audacity to do things like, make dinner, and take a shower. Oh my!
I told the manager, “That sounds pretty normal to me. Welcome to the building.”
“Besides,” I told him, “I don’t sleep well and two or three times a week I’m up between one and five and the floors squeak when I go to the living room or the kitchen.”
“Oh no,” he replied. “That just wouldn’t do.”
It’s all I could do to keep from laughing.
I had already pretty much rejected the idea anyway. The apartment in question is on the end of the building at the street. Sure you get two more windows, but that means more traffic noise.
It’s also a minor difference in layout. Due to the extra window in the kitchen, the counter and appliances are on the opposite wall and the doorway to the living room moves to the corner. This would eliminate the space where my servers live. And my desk would be in front of the additional window in the living room.
Perhaps more importantly, to the best of my knowledge, mine is one of the few units with a third radiator. Every bathroom has one, and every living room, althought the locations vary. Bedrooms seem to get shorted in the radiator department. But I have one, and I’m not giving it up.
One thing I learned though, is that as of now, there are no plans to increase the rent to cover increased heating costs. And thus far, there’s been no change to the timer that runs the boiler.
Funny, when I got up I was thinking of writing about how I have to learn to throw off only one layer of blankets when I get too warm sleeping. And how I just love the real, live steam heat.
Yes, it’s the old-fashioned kind here. Never been converted to hot water. The steam hisses in the top and gurgles out the bottom. The pipes and radiators bang and clank with the thermal stress and you could burn yourself on them.
I love it. Especially that you can feel the heat from across the room. Hell, when I come in the kitchen door I can feel it. Not just the warm air rushing out, but actual radiant heat energy from the radiator in the living room, about 20 feet away!
No, I like my apartment, with its three radiators, two fewer windows, and my own assortment of noisy neighbors and their willingness to put up with my nocturnal wanderings.
