January 17, 2005
Yesterday I went to my beloved flea market. Aside from some cool old Life Magazines plus a beautiful (but inexpensive) bound copy of Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol," two things of note occurred. Number 1, I ran into my ex-neighbors, the Warstas. Soleya and Ati are Aghani immigrants, who lived below me for ten years. I don't think a week went by where Soleya did not bring me a plate of rice with lamb, chicken or kebab, as she did with all of the denizens of our building. I let her use my storage unit for all of the extra stuff she sold at her weekly yard sales and the flea market. I also bought several carpets from them for my bedroom floor, as they were directly below. (I will let you surmise why that was an important component of good neighborliness).
I told her she looked well, she said the same of me, and I told her I was "all better." And then I aplogized for the drama and how it must have, at the very least, been unnerving. Her English has always been serviceable at best, and she said "No worry. We all make mistake." That's sounded pretty articulate to me, and I appreciated her absolution. Anyone who can feed her neigbhbors while fasting herself during Ramadan (at least sunrise to sunset) has a lot of spiritual chutzpah, in my book.
I also saw a posting for studio spaces on Melrose and Vine, and spoke to the landlady, who selling stuff there. There are two spaces available, for the unheard of prices of $525 and $625 a month. I surmised that they are techinically working, not living spaces, (hence no kitchens) which can be the only explanation for they're so cheap. At the same time I think she would have made it clear if tenants were not allowed to live there, in fact I had the distinct impression that's what everybody there did.
Pray that they allow dogs,
MCO
2005
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