Even if there is no snow, you know it for sure when you can feel the cold frigid air seeping through the crack of the closed front door. I can pinpoint exactly where it is that all the heat in my apartment is escaping, it might as well be water running through those gaps.
A particularly cold location in my home is the bay window in the living room. It's an old window, with no caulking, so it's a given that when you sit beside it it feels like you need to put on an extra sweater and maybe some leg warmers. Matthew has actually started to call me 'Grandma' because of all the knit-wear that i've suddenly taken on.
However, the window is a great place to write. I like to surf the net and write my blog here so I can look up every so often and spy on the neighborhood.
I've been observing my 'hood for about 2 months from this little perch of mine.
I feel sort of like a house cat that sits and watches through his owners glass. Actually, used to think that cats sat by the window wishing to be released outside, but now I think that they just like the anonymity of the situation. They can scope out their terrain without any mouse, bird or squirrel having any idea that they are being studied. The cat is secretly planning his hunt and when the right moment comes he'll know exactly when and how to strike!
Well, at least that's what I think, mostly because that's how I feel, though I'm not planning on doing any rodent extermination any time soon. What I mean is that I love to watch when no one else is looking.
It's pretty fascinating to observe the system of your surroundings unfold, and there is definitely a system.
The bus arrives at its stop every 15 minutes.
The three college roomies, or as I like to call them the triplets, on the third floor of our building are always dashing out the door at around 8:30am, probably late for class.
The man with the black Converse walks by every day at 10:30 am, always in a Westwardly direction.
Katie, my second floor neighbor, is constantly parking her car, then leaving again, then back again re parking her car. (I still don't know what kind of job she has that requires her to come and go so often.)
2:00 pm the mail man arrives.
The first of the month you can see the garbage pickers weaving in and out of the nearby alleyways with shopping carts and pick up trucks, looking for treasure junk thrown out by moving tenants.
And at least once a day, a cyclist almost loses his or her life zooming through the two way stop at Bryant and 24th street.
This is pretty standard stuff, standard for my street because we live right at the corner of a busy residential road that leads to an even busier one.
Two blocks away is a commercial area with restaurants, bars and of course the ever exciting liquor store, so their action sometimes trickles down our way.
Every now and then you'll see something really out of the ordinary. The other day I spotted a well known homeless guy standing at the bus stop across the street. The bus came, but he didn't get on. He was waiting for someone. Then a car pulled up, he got in and they pulled into the alley. Moments later he came sauntering back out, lifted his arms in the air and did a couple fist pumps. I imagined at the time that he was yelling 'Adriane!'
Total drug deal. Wow. Is my neighborhood cool or what?!
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