apartment a-hunting

Yesterday Craig and I went to actually go look at an apartment. We (or maybe just I) love our current apartment, what with the central heat & air, the washer & dryer in the bathroom, and the youngness of the building (1 year old when we moved in 2 years ago). But there's nothing around. If we want to go out to dinner, we need to hop on a train. Go for some night life? Train. Park? Train. Grocery shopping? Well there's the Ghetto Supermarket 'round the corner, but TJ's and Whole Foods is where we freaky veggie types do most of our shopping. So, train*.

Point is, there is nothing in our neighborhood. Nobody even delivers food to us except 2 pizza places, and one of those is Papa John's, which makes me want to vomit. So we're looking in a different neighborhood. Downtown Brooklyn instead of say, oh I don't know, Bed-Stuy.

It all started with craigslist. (Doesn't everything start with craigslist?) There was an affordable one-bedroom in the area we were looking. I emailed the listing to C, and he sent back his approval. So I called the guy, Simon. I left a message saying I know he was showing it the next evening, but if possible we would like to come see it sooner. It's easier for C to go into work late than to leave early, and well, I'm still unemployed. But Simon did not call me back.

I had half given up when I finally do get a phone call, at 5:30 the next day. "I know this is short notice, but if you want to come see the apartment I'm showing it til 9 tonight." I tell him maybe, because it'll take C an hour to get home from work (not counting any train delays) and then another 45 minutes for us to get out there. And we want dinner.

But I make contact with C, and since he's working hard (or is it hardly working?) he can leave right away and we can go see it. We make our way down there. It's a long walk from the subway, but everything kinda is around there. The neighborhood is nice: lots of restaurants, bars, trees, a block away from the park, etc. We find the building, go inside to the first floor, and make our introductions. Then we start to look around.

There is a spiral staircase leading to the "basement" which is actually a huge bedroom. Way bigger than our bedroom now. But since it's in the basement, there are no windows. No air circulation. No natural light. And the ceilings are really low (I could touch them with my hand no problem) so that means no installation of overhead light or fans. Ok.

Back upstairs, we notice that the living room is tiny and badly situated. this area is smaller than our current one (which is saying a lot) and is set up in such a way that the north "wall" is the kitchen and bathroom (with the tiny tiny fridge), west wall is the front door and stairs to the bedroom, south is a wall with 2 windows, and east is a very small wall. This means that there is no acceptable way to set up a tv for comfortable viewing. Come to think of it, there was no way any combination of our current furniture could fit in there. This includes the cat tower, which of course is going with us.

Did I mention that there was absolutely no AC in the whole apartment? I wasn't expecting central air like we have now, but most places have fine window units. This place had nothing. Not even a fan going. And because it was about 2000 degrees and muggy and humid and horrible outside, the apartment was 10000 times worse. We were literally dripping sweat onto the floor. When C asked about any AC, Simon informed us that we'd probably have to buy one. "But that's ok because anything you buy will fit in the window - you've got lots of space out there."

So we go outside to have a looksee. It's true - there are a few feet between the window and the iron fence. However, that space is filled with the building's trash cans. Right outside the only windows. That means bad smell, and the possibility of cockroaches, and you all know I'm not down for either of these things.

We go back in and tell Simon - who has been sitting on a stool this whole time, not actually "showing" us the apartment - that we'll have to take a pass. Thank you for your time, and now we must get out of this sweltering hellhole.

We did pass a nice Italian restaurant which served C a plate of homemade mozzarella cheese, fried, wrapped in bread, and fried again. Quoth C: "this is so good, I think I'm going to cry." Yeah, I didn't have any of that. But I did have a super yummy spinach-artichoke dip. AND it was air conditioned inside. The restaurant was marked down as one we could return to.

Did I mention we liked the neighborhood? The apartment? Not so much.




* We can also take a bus to these places, but it's just as much of a hassle, if not more of one.