New Home in Metairie

I had rented my new place in Metairie from New York without seeing it. It was a bit of a shock when I arrived. There was construction going on all around, building a canal, and my new "home" felt like part of a Low-Income Housing development. Wood-siding made it feel even more shaky. There were many things that needed to be done to make it livable. I saw to it that Building Management knew what I found unacceptable and they were dealt with speedily (miracle of miracles). I slept on the floor the first two nights, warmed by the colorful comforter I brought with me. The floor was carpeted so that was OK. I was sleeping on an inexpensive (but fun) air mattress by the third night. To be honest, my place is an oasis and very comfortable. It's clean, it is more spacious than 423 square feet sounds, it has massive closet space, and I always feel relaxed when I return from a long day of work or walking. I eat pasta and jarred sauce for dinner fairly often. Yum. And I go to sleep early (for me).

The only thing I'm near besides loads of residential communities is a Discount Zone, sort of a 7-11 convenience store. It's nearly a mile to Veterans Memorial Boulevard, the closest main drag that has stores on it. There's a Barnes & Noble and a CC's Coffee House next door, my two favorite haunts, CC's providing me with my only Internet service so far, and a Burger King across the highway (sic?). There's a WalMart and a Target and a Bed, Bath & Beyond and a CompUSA, nearby by car, impossible by foot and a PITA by bus. The busses are regular and on-time; but infrequent . Without them it'd be me, B&N, CC's and an unfriendly wilderness of automobile highways leading nowhere.

The weather here is variable from day to day and hour to hour. Mornings begin cold and often climb into the 60's and 70's (it's February as I write this). Or they don't. One third (well, after a month-plus, more like 15%) of the days are rainy or 100% humidity. Another third are cloudy. The evenings are often clear and glorious, and Venus has been a pleasure to sight every day this last week and a half for several hours after sunset.