Of Fossil Fuel and New Beginnings

There are a lot of things in life that we as humans never think about… and we don’t usually know we haven’t thought about them until we’re faced with a new situation—a stimulus, so to speak, to discover a host of new questions to consider and new topics for thought. Some of these may be profound, and some of them are more deeply rooted in the simple steps of everyday life. Yes, there are many things about everyday life that we’ve never thought about.
For example, if you move to a new place, but were unable to move your bed with you, where do you find a new mattress so you can stop sleeping on an air mattress? This was my dilemma yesterday, the first day of life in the big city. Now, I suppose it might have been different if I had moved somewhere with friends or family close by—a recommendation would have been easy to come by. But I can’t imagine the look I would have gotten if I had walked up to the first person I saw on the street outside my apartment and asked where I could find a good mattress… Yeah, not the best way to make friends. There aren’t any big department stores around here either, and even if there were, I have no way of getting the mattress to my apartment by myself, so, it was a necessity to find somewhere that would also deliver said mattress. I had my challenge cut out for me, but was definitely motivated by the stiffness that was growing for every night on the air mattress.
So, I thought about my options. No internet connection, no clue where the nearest place was to find an internet connection, and rain coming down outside. Thankfully, the last renter left a phone book in the apartment. So, armed with a phone book and a comprehensive guide to the city (so I could figure out how I would get to any of these places), I flipped to the furniture section of the book. Lesson learned: it’s always a little better if your phone book isn’t out of date. Several of the more promising places had moved already, so they were out. I made a short list of places that looked as thought they might do the trick, and then figured out where they were located and just how many rides up and down the city it would take to see them. List in hand, I called around to see if I could narrow a price range. Desperation will make anything sound appealing, to a point. At least I knew by the time I hit the road what I could expect and how to mentally compare options.
One of the purchases I made in VA with NY in mind was a pair of Pink, polka-dot rain boots. When you have no car, rain boots are a necessity. They were particularly helpful yesterday, providing both much-needed protection from the general wetness and a splash of color to cheer me up. It managed to stop raining part way through the afternoon, but the sky was grey and cloudy all day. That didn’t hinder me from success, though. Long story short, I visited two mattress stores, and found a great deal at the first. The process involved a significant amount of waling, but nothing my boots and me couldn’t handle. I am happy to say that we now have a mattress, delivered to our apartment this morning. I employed my growing knowledge of the city on my way home yesterday to stop and pick up some sheets so that we will be all ready for our first comfortable evening tonight. Hallelujah! It will be a welcome relief, not to mention nice to have somewhere other than the floor to sit, since we have no chairs. What an adventure.
I realize that I took for granted a general knowledge of where I was living. I mean, even moving to college, it was pretty well defined: the grocery store was around the corner and the Wal-Mart was a few miles down the highway. Not so with this move. Since I don’t know anyone here, I’m not sure who to ask for that kind of information. And even if you know that something exists or where it is, there’s the question of how you’re going to get there. So, it will take some getting used to, but I think we’re settling in nicely.
Last night, after Zach got home from work, we went out to try and find a dry cleaners for his work clothes. Fifteen blocks later, we decided just to take his stuff to the place around the corner from us and see what happened. So, it was back to the house, where we created some lovely salads and settled in for Jeeves and Wooster. That’s one of our favorite ways to relax at night. Only, something was missing. Ice cream. One thing we have learned about the city, is that there are little delis on nearly every corner, so it was just a trip to the end of the block for some Ben and Jerry’s (all they had) Fossil Fuel ice cream. It was absolutely wonderful—enough chocolate to satisfy, and so tasty!
So, that’s the start of our life in the big city. I'll have pictures soon, once we get the Internet thing worked out ;-)