When I last blogged, I was in limbo about where I live. In case you missed the last entry, I had just gotten my heat back after weeks of having to sleep in my clothes, wear layers of sweatshirts and jackets in the house, and place unreturned phone calls to the property manager. (If there had been no forward motion about the dead furnace, I was going to print off a copy of Section 5321.04(6) of the Ohio Revised Code, which deals with landlord responsibilities, and enclose it with my next rent check. That was when I learned that the landlord had washed his hands of the place by neglecting his property taxes.) The property was on the verge of being sold at sheriff's auction when a new owner and property manager stepped up to the plate, bought the place, waterproofed the basement, and replaced the furnace.
About two weeks later, I played a voice mail message on my phone at work. The new owner wanted to increase the rent to $1200 per month, which was a jump of 43% over what I had been paying in the 2½ years I have called this half double my home. (I realize this is incomprehensible for any readers who live in New York, Boston, or the San Francisco Bay Area, but for under $700 per month, I was renting a three-bedroom half double.) This near-doubling of the rent is especially insane in a neighborhood like this, where entire houses rent for around $1000 per month.
I had first dibs on the place at the new place, but I knew it was not realistic to think I could afford such an increase. The new owner said I could stay until the end of June (I had been month-to-month since October), but I immediately got online and began to look for a new place. I was also going around the SoHud neighborhood, notepad and Pilot EasyTouch ballpoint in hand, jotting down any phone number on FOR RENT signs I encountered. The latter was not an easy task with a hand in a splint. Looking over the pages in my notebook right now, I am surprised my penmanship came out as legibly as it did.
Mercifully, the search was a short one. Walking toward High St. late one afternoon, I saw a sign in the front yard of a half double on E. Blake Ave. I called the number on the sign, and made a date to meet the owner the next day after work.
And I liked what I saw. It's only $20 a month more than what I am paying now, although it is two-bedroom, instead of three. The floors are freshly varnished. A washer and dryer combination is in the basement. (I have been renting to own a set from Rent-A-Center. There is a lot of truth to something FBI Agent Dale Cooper said in Twin Peaks: "Leasing may be the fast track to an appearance of affluence, but equity will keep you warm at night.") Furnace and central air are brand new and flawless. And the owner is current with property taxes and mortgage payments. (He and his wife did live in my half of the duplex, but they've moved to a bigger place in Beechwold, since they plan on having children in the near future.)
The owner agreed to rent it to me after about 15 minutes of conversation, and he faxed me a lease the next day. The big day will be April 1, when I meet him and he gives me the key.
Susie has been spending spring break with me, and has enjoyed everything except the weather. I came close to blogging about my good fortune in finding affordable new living quarters as soon as I had sealed the deal, but I reined myself in so I could surprise Susie by pointing out the new place as we walked by it. (She still has not seen the interior. She will be returning to Florida late Sunday afternoon, and I do not get the key until Tuesday.)
The only planned "special" activity that Susie and I did was visiting COSI (the Center of Science and Industry) on Sunday afternoon. While we were emailing and IMing back and forth about Susie's spring break visit, I mentioned the Sherlock Holmes exhibit at COSI, and both of us wanted to see it. We were both underwhelmed. My favorite part was the mock-up of the interior of 221B Baker St., and it was complete, right down to the Holmes mannequin in the window (to fool a criminal into thinking Holmes was actually there when he wasn't), to the "VR"--Victoria Regina--spelled out in bullet holes above the fireplace. (When bored, Holmes would resort to either cocaine or indoor marksmanship. I am not sure if he ever combined the two.) Holmes' file of correspondence was where it was in the stories. It was pinned to the fireplace mantle with a jackknife. The exhibit was the first time I had ever seen original editions of The Strand magazine, where many of the short stories (and a serialized Hound of the Baskervilles) first appeared, and, almost as rare as a Gutenberg Bible or a Shakespeare First Folio was a copy of Beeton's Christmas Annual, where Holmes first debuted in A Study in Scarlet.
The exhibit was not worth the $56 I paid for two tickets. As for the interactive part of the exhibit, the mystery-solving was on a par with "It was Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick."
I will have the façade of wealth throughout the month of April. I have paid the April rent at my soon-to-be-former home, so during that month I will have two residences! This is purely for practical reasons, so I can move over piecemeal, especially the more cumbersome job of moving the books and records. (I had a modest assortment of LPs when I moved here in the fall of 2011, and that has quadrupled--at least!--and then there are all the 78s. I have imposed a moratorium on buying books and records until the move has started, to lessen what needs to be moved.) I will save the furniture until the very end, and will probably hire a professional mover for that. (Moving books is the only time I will ever wish I had a Nook!)
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| This is a still from The Grapes of Wrath (1940), and what I envision every time I have to move. This time, however, I am hoping to stay put for the foreseeable future. (My new landlord seems more conscientious than my last one.)
Susie, a friend of hers, and I walked to dinner at the Blue Danube tonight. We passed the new place en route, and were happy to see that the FOR RENT sign was gone from the front yard. I am looking forward to the exchange next Tuesday (I give him a cashier's check, he gives me the key), although I wish the move was already behind me. I'll feel much better once I am actually settled into the new place.
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