Spinning Yarns

I take comfort in the knowledge that we now have a place to live in Cambridge. It is an apartment in a 20-level high-rise building west of Harvard Square, caught in a niche between the public reservoir, a golf course, and a well-tended old cemetery. Although I have never lived in such a building before, I think it will turn out to be a pretty good location for both of us.

I’m not sure whether it’s a good sign for Cambridge housing prices, or a bad sign for the going rates in Hanover, that while the rent on our new place is higher than on our current place, we are getting in return an apartment that is larger and better-organized than our current one, and for which all utilities and Internet service are included. It’ll be practically like living in a hotel. Once you add the cost of heat, hot water, electricity, water, DSL service, and so forth to our current rate, the new place looks like a pretty good deal. It all goes to illustrate the fact that the Hanover housing market is completely out of proportion with any sense of reality.

The new apartment has nice views all around (notwithstanding the fact that it was overcast on the day I took these photographs), and it is not too close to any major roads, so the traffic noise will be minimal. We will have a southern exposure, looking out over the aforementioned old cemetery. Maybe some people would find such a thing strange, but I have always found cemeteries to be very calming and reflective places. Not happy places, exactly, but good for getting a bit of quiet perspective on the state of the Universe. Now, I’m sure the living locals are not thrilled about having a high-rise apartment building next to their cemetery, but their deceased kindred do not seem to mind so much. It’s a pretty good arrangement.

We are planning to move around the 15th of June, once classes, finals, and graduation are past. There will be a few days of packing and unpacking chaos, but since it has only been a year since our last move, I don’t think it will be too bad. The last time we moved, I had been in that apartment for almost five years, and I’m sure you know how entrenched you get when you stay in one place for a while. Now we have more stuff because we are together, but each of us got rid of a fair amount of old junk during the move, so the increase is mostly in books. Books are heavy, but easy to pack and move. Just remember the lesson I taught myself the hard way when I moved back up to Vermont in 1997: Just because more books will fit in a bigger box does not mean you should fill it. If you can’t carry them in your arms, a box will not make them any lighter. We will probably also sell off some of our existing furniture before we move, so that should also simplify the process somewhat. I’m also considering hiring some movers to haul it all around.

Anyway, that’s the latest update on our moving plans. Once we have our new address and phone service set up, I will e-mail out our new contact information to anyone who needs to know it.

Filed by Michael at 15:55 under Personal
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