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Enjoying El Cerrito
May. 12th, 2022 06:04 pmNow that I wrestled Comcast into provisioning my own modem, so I'm using my own router, my wifi reaches out into the shared back yard, so I'm sitting on the concrete patio in the sun, catching up on email and dreamwidth. There's a huge meyer lemon tree out here, so I'm breathing its sweet scent (which doesn't hurt me).
I was nervous about living just off a busy street near a commercial district, but it turns out to be super convenient to be able to walk to the lovely old hardware store and the post office and Trader Joes before my bike gets here. There are enough breaks in traffic that the busy street is easy to cross, and drivers here really do stop more for pedestrians.
I've settled in to the apartment as much as I can with the small subset of my stuff I brought with me. There's a shared washer & dryer among the three apartments. I ran an empty load and then put things I could do without in the washer. They didn't come out scented - once the washer consented to finish running the load instead of sitting there clicking with soapy water in the basin. There have been a lot of unexpected hassles like that.
On the upside, there is a sturdy clothesline frame out here in the yard, so I walked to the hardware store, bought clothesline, and hung everything outside. Things dried in just a few hours in the sun and dry air. Which is good, because I figure the dryer is a lost cause in terms of chemicals and fragrances. One neighbor is also sensitive, but the other one loves his "odor blaster" detergent.
Tonight I get to go Scandinavian dancing! With a group that requires vaccination and masking and is also scent-free. And someone is giving me a ride. I got invited by the leaders who saw me mention that I'm moving here at a zoom Balkan group. I've done some Scandinavian couple dancing and enjoy it, although it's been a while.
I'm noticing that it's important to me to have a garage to put extra stuff and bikes, and it's important to me to easily go sit outside. I'm glad the apartment on the 3rd floor of a big building fell through! And I might end up buying a house here rather than in Berkeley or Oakland. It's a little less expensive, and feels a little less intense. I didn't like living a mile further north when I first got to the Bay Area, but I was commuting a long way to campus by bike and felt isolated from other students.
I was nervous about living just off a busy street near a commercial district, but it turns out to be super convenient to be able to walk to the lovely old hardware store and the post office and Trader Joes before my bike gets here. There are enough breaks in traffic that the busy street is easy to cross, and drivers here really do stop more for pedestrians.
I've settled in to the apartment as much as I can with the small subset of my stuff I brought with me. There's a shared washer & dryer among the three apartments. I ran an empty load and then put things I could do without in the washer. They didn't come out scented - once the washer consented to finish running the load instead of sitting there clicking with soapy water in the basin. There have been a lot of unexpected hassles like that.
On the upside, there is a sturdy clothesline frame out here in the yard, so I walked to the hardware store, bought clothesline, and hung everything outside. Things dried in just a few hours in the sun and dry air. Which is good, because I figure the dryer is a lost cause in terms of chemicals and fragrances. One neighbor is also sensitive, but the other one loves his "odor blaster" detergent.
Tonight I get to go Scandinavian dancing! With a group that requires vaccination and masking and is also scent-free. And someone is giving me a ride. I got invited by the leaders who saw me mention that I'm moving here at a zoom Balkan group. I've done some Scandinavian couple dancing and enjoy it, although it's been a while.
I'm noticing that it's important to me to have a garage to put extra stuff and bikes, and it's important to me to easily go sit outside. I'm glad the apartment on the 3rd floor of a big building fell through! And I might end up buying a house here rather than in Berkeley or Oakland. It's a little less expensive, and feels a little less intense. I didn't like living a mile further north when I first got to the Bay Area, but I was commuting a long way to campus by bike and felt isolated from other students.
