My New Apartment

It took two weeks of back and forth, but last Tuesday afternoon I signed the lease on a new apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (Google map). Actually, it’s a lease assignment, meaning I’m taking over someone else’s lease. I already received the keys from the previous tennant, and Aunt Bernadette set to work giving my apartment a makeover almost immediately. I can’t say enough how grateful I am to her for all the help she’s given me in cleaning the place (it was left filthy), for all the household items she’s pulled out of her closets to help me furnish the place, and for all the items she’s organized for me (like buying new tumblers for the locks).

The place is on the 4th floor of a brownstone with lots of character. There’s no laundry in the building but there’s a cleaner’s that does laundry at the end of the block. The giant supermarket “Fairway” is two blocks away, as is Central Park, and the place is four blocks north of the 72nd street stop on the 1,2, and 3 subway lines. Aunt Bernadette checked out the local crime rates at the local police precinct (she’s connected like that from when she worked for the Mayor’s office) and declared the neighboorhood “okay”, which for any normal person means “it’s a great neighborhood”. I know nothing about the area, but it appears to be in a lively area with lots of shops and restaurants around and many people in the office have said it’s a nice place to live.

The only problem is that the “bedroom” is literally only big enough to fit a bed and nothing else. It’s 75.5 inches wide and 92 inches deep. My 60 by 80 queen size bed will fit with about six inches of space on all sides, and there’s no door to the bedroom, but since you have to climb into the bed from the door I guess it doesn’t really matter.

I’m looking forward to moving in and getting out of the sucky Bridge Suites, but my shipment can only be delivered on Nov 30 at the earliest, so we’ll see what happens.

 Once again: many thanks to Aunt Bernadette, who I now officially dub “My Favorite Aunt” (sorry Aunt Bernadette).