(no subject)
I'm writing this entry a week after Matt left and went back to Michigan. Things have calmed down considerably since he was here. For all the preparation as in cleaning that I did before his visit, it seems as though every conceivable obstacle beyond my control was put in the way of his having a good time here.
Let's begin with the weather. June is normally a very fair month in the Delaware Valley. Temperatures are similar to May and rarely get above 80. This June however we were treated to temperatures and humidity normally associated with mid-August. It's around that time that most people look forward to Autumn with decreased humidity and lower temperatures.
Next comes the plumbing. Because my landlord has hired the least timely of all maintenance companies, the ongoing problem of water leaking from the upstairs shower into my ceiling gradually worsened. When the head of contractor arrived to inspect the leak, all he did was to remove the tile under the leak. By removing the soaked tile, the leak was allowed to fall directly onto the bathroom floor which had to be mopped up every time someone wanted to use the room. Three days before Matt left the leak was fixed...but of course no replacement tile, since the plumbers (a separate concern) didn't have one. Two days before Matt left the shower stopped working properly and we had to take baths. By the way, early on I solved the problem of a slow drain in the tub myself.
Next are the bedbugs. Through the delivery of a much anticipated Chippendale camel back sofa, my apartment became infested with bedbugs. Matt did a stellar job of helping to prepare the apartment for an inspection and a treatment. Two days after he left, the follow up inspection occurred. We are now free of bedbugs. The lesson I have learned from this is not to put too much store in furniture, no matter how well it matches something you've seen in a period room in a museum. Also, never get anyone you don't know is free of bedbugs to deliver anything to your house, ever.
Who can forget contractors working on other buildings in the neighborhood? The landlords and property managers of various other buildings in the neighborhood chose the first few weeks in June to take care of all the little maintenance problems on their buildings. Most of these issues were exterior and involved the siding of one bay window, the re-roofing of several more bay windows, the removal of a back porch and tarring of several flat roofs. All of these involve construction workers arriving early in the morning to talk very loudly, play music at high volumes and operate electrical tools that can be heard in a block radius.
So that's a lot of things, quite a lot of things. I did work quite a bit during Matt's visit also, so days that we could have done things together. Of course that's nothing compared to the time robbed of us by the ill-fated purchase of a second hand bicycle and the necessary preparation for the "little offenders."
It's kind of funny that I'm sitting out on the sun porch on a sunny evening, in relative silence, with the most audible noise being from birds. The temperature is about 72, low humidity and there's a pleasant breeze. The apartment is calm and clean and free of bugs and the shower is on it's way to working. Maybe on Matt's next visit the living room ceiling can fall in, the street will be jackhammered, we'll get fleas....
Let's begin with the weather. June is normally a very fair month in the Delaware Valley. Temperatures are similar to May and rarely get above 80. This June however we were treated to temperatures and humidity normally associated with mid-August. It's around that time that most people look forward to Autumn with decreased humidity and lower temperatures.
Next comes the plumbing. Because my landlord has hired the least timely of all maintenance companies, the ongoing problem of water leaking from the upstairs shower into my ceiling gradually worsened. When the head of contractor arrived to inspect the leak, all he did was to remove the tile under the leak. By removing the soaked tile, the leak was allowed to fall directly onto the bathroom floor which had to be mopped up every time someone wanted to use the room. Three days before Matt left the leak was fixed...but of course no replacement tile, since the plumbers (a separate concern) didn't have one. Two days before Matt left the shower stopped working properly and we had to take baths. By the way, early on I solved the problem of a slow drain in the tub myself.
Next are the bedbugs. Through the delivery of a much anticipated Chippendale camel back sofa, my apartment became infested with bedbugs. Matt did a stellar job of helping to prepare the apartment for an inspection and a treatment. Two days after he left, the follow up inspection occurred. We are now free of bedbugs. The lesson I have learned from this is not to put too much store in furniture, no matter how well it matches something you've seen in a period room in a museum. Also, never get anyone you don't know is free of bedbugs to deliver anything to your house, ever.
Who can forget contractors working on other buildings in the neighborhood? The landlords and property managers of various other buildings in the neighborhood chose the first few weeks in June to take care of all the little maintenance problems on their buildings. Most of these issues were exterior and involved the siding of one bay window, the re-roofing of several more bay windows, the removal of a back porch and tarring of several flat roofs. All of these involve construction workers arriving early in the morning to talk very loudly, play music at high volumes and operate electrical tools that can be heard in a block radius.
So that's a lot of things, quite a lot of things. I did work quite a bit during Matt's visit also, so days that we could have done things together. Of course that's nothing compared to the time robbed of us by the ill-fated purchase of a second hand bicycle and the necessary preparation for the "little offenders."
It's kind of funny that I'm sitting out on the sun porch on a sunny evening, in relative silence, with the most audible noise being from birds. The temperature is about 72, low humidity and there's a pleasant breeze. The apartment is calm and clean and free of bugs and the shower is on it's way to working. Maybe on Matt's next visit the living room ceiling can fall in, the street will be jackhammered, we'll get fleas....