Adventures In Tenement Living - Part One

tenement - n. 1. A building to live in, esp. one rented to tenants. 2. A run-down, low-rental apartment building whose facilities and upkeep barely meet minimum standards.



Let's just be clear... both definitions describe where I currently live. Especially the second one. And I'm not even sure we meet minimum standards.

I moved to the city last year for a reason. Several actually, but one was that I was heartily sick of the suburbs and the country. I've spent my whole life in one or the other and wanted something different.

Well, I got my wish and then some! The first neighborhood I lived in here was very quiet compared to where I am now. There were times that it was so quiet, you wouldn't know you were in the middle of one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the US.

Now I know I live in the city!

The first night in my new tenement, I discovered that after the sun sets, my front stoop is the local businessman's 'turf'. He works a couple of feet away, his muscle sits on my stoop. It took a few days, but we worked it out. I ignore their existence, they move out of the way if I need to get in my door. They were actually quite polite and I miss them now that the local gendarmes have busted them.

Miss them? you say with incredulity! Yes, miss them. You see, a 'storefront' like this doesn't stay empty. New businessmen move in as the old ones are moved out. But the new ones aren't polite. And they're scary. It makes coming home after dark a bit of an adventure, and these days it's dark by 5:30 pm.

Gives a whole new meaning to the saying "early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise"...