this dwelling

Shifting gears here from the last post but going with a stream-of-consciousness kind of thing…..

We all harbor irrational signs which we turn into indicators of where future actions will take us.  While flipping a coin might give an immediate answer for the occasional predicament, those long, drawn out, unpredictable quandaries often require more esoteric sources to determine a temporary resolution. Whatever these signifiers are they range from the highly probable to the probably delusional, helping us suss out some order within the chaos of our daily lives.

Lately I've been feeling more upbeat about the prospect of our landlord renewing our lease and not giving us a notice of non-renewal (though the upswing may be in proportion to the amount of coffee I've had that day). Most of our neighbors have moved due to non-renewal notices and out of 18 units I think there are only 4 still occupied.  While major construction, such as "cutting holes in the walls to put in new windows" and "moving all the electrical and gas meters into totally different places" is still in progress, I am somehow able to rationalize a scenario whereby we'll still be here, intact, next year.

I'll start with my craziest thought first and work my way towards something more solid, and hopefully I'm not jinxing myself by saying these things out loud:

1)  This bike.

This bike has been attached to the fence of a community garden on 3rd street for I-can't-tell-you how long.  I *think* it may have been, at one point in time in the very distance past, my bike.  I'd brought a bike very similar to this one from PA when I moved to the LES in 1991.  In truth it was a bit too small for me and I didn't use it much.  I sold it to a German girl I worked with briefly at Amazon Movers in the mid-1990's.  She lived at Collective Unconscious when they were on Ave B (now Croxley Ale House).  Soon after that there was a fire and Collective Unconscious moved somewhere else (Ludlow I think?).  Maybe the bike was left there or maybe someone else nearby continued using it (I assumed it was damaged in the fire).  Anyway, one day it appeared tied to the fence on this garden next to Mama's (R.I.P), and has not moved for years. I pass this bike almost every day on my way to work in the East Village. In my mind, as long as that bike is there, I will not have to move.  

(addendum: the name of the garden on 3rd Street is Miracle Garden)

2)  The Laundry Room.

We have a coin operated laundry room in the basement of our building.  It houses two well worn washers and dryers which have always been cheap and convenient (especially when there when laundromats were few and far between).  The contractors are currently completely tearing the basement apart, knocking holes in walls and ceilings, pipes jutting out all over the place, yet not once have we not had access to the laundry room.  The contractors make a dusty mess, I complain to the building manager, and the next week they clean up.  One day they left the construction plans in the laundry room allowing me a chance to see what they are doing with the basement, first, and second floors.  While everything else imaginable is been moved, removed, reconfigured, or added, somehow in the plans the "existing laundry room" remains, except now with a door.  This, in my mind, means that the "existing tenants" may also remain.   

3) Heat (or lack thereof):

Each apartment in our building has its own heat and hot water inside the unit, a remnant of 1980's renovations.  We have an electric hot water heater in the bathroom, a weird electric heater in the bathroom wall (I don't know how humid hot air and an exposed heater coil can be compatible, but the thing has worked reliably for years), and two gas blower heaters that look like air conditioners from the outside. Pair that with a severe lack of insulation (read: none) and what you have is very cold apartment in the winter and a rather expensive electric bill. One thing I was worried about with these new renovations is that all the units would have to be cleared for them to put in proper heat, but it looks like they are installing some sort of system that will create heat for each unit separately.  This, in my mind, means that they do not have to kick everyone out to put in the new heat, so thats a tally on the "not getting kicked out necessarily yet" side.  

bathroom heater mid-1990's