We finally got fed up of living in the smallest flat in Madrid, and gave the landlord one month's notice at the start of this month. Have we found a new place? Not yet.
Today is a public holiday (St Joseph's Day, methinks), and our agent had made us an appointment to view a brand-new flat in the north of the city. It's quite a bit bigger than what we have now (although not enormous, by any means). The kitchen area is much bigger, and that's important to me. Best of all, there's a dining area where we can do a bit of entertaining, and a separate bedroom so we can have guests staying with us. There is a roof terrace, which is shared by the other six flats: for drying washing, maybe housing our bigger plants, possibly a bit of sunbathing. And there's a big storage room (trastero) in the basement where we can keep the stuff that won't fit into the flat. There's a small park nearby, a view of the northern mountains, and it's a 10-minute Metro ride to the centre.
The landlady and her daughter were very keen on us (because of our obvious maturity, etc), and even reduced the amount of deposit required. We'll be looking at a couple more places over the weekend, and expect to make a decision on Monday.
And back to Chueca. Our building has become a bit of an eyesore. We lost our Portero (watchman) just after Christmas, and the mail doesn't get sorted into our pigeon-holes , we have to take out our own rubbish (some of the occupants don't seem to have realised this yet), the hallways don't get cleaned, the lift breaks down frequently and nobody knows who to call to get it fixed, and there is unsightly graffiti on the street door. Plus the rent has gone up. We feel the landlord is ripping us off. And now that the weather is good again, the buskers have returned to the square - a never-ending stream of accordianistas and trumpeteros who play the same five tunes. Over and over. Badly.
Looking forward to moving!
UPDATE
We didn't get the one I described above, but we have got the one next door - it's a bit bigger - for the same price. WooHoo! Moving on Monday. Relief.
Cranberry Sauce with Candied Oranges
18 hours ago
7 comments:
Good luck, Keith.
BTW - Still happy with Jazztel?
What a pleasant picture you paint of the current Casa Keefie!
just curious - how much does one pay for a flat in Madrid such as you have described? Sounds like there is not shortage if you can hope to find one and move in by the end of the month.
Good luck with your search - I like the sound of the one you described in this blog...
Fantastico! Good luck with the hunting.
I hope you & mamaduck find a nice spot keefie - especially with a good sized kitchen - very impotant thing for a man that cooks (as my old man will testify!). Spare bedrooms always come in handy, whether they be for friends/family, to collect junk or put up the occasional hairy bikers that might just nut through your adopted city someday :-)
*spell check is 'tweropyr' - this could be part of a new language for one of your book characters keefie!
Our building has become a bit of an eyesore. We lost our Portero (watchman) just after Christmas, and the mail doesn't get sorted into our pigeon-holes , we have to take out our own rubbish (some of the occupants don't seem to have realised this yet), the hallways don't get cleaned, the lift breaks down frequently and nobody knows who to call to get it fixed, and there is unsightly graffiti on the street door. Plus the rent has gone up. We feel the landlord is ripping us off.
When did you move to Russia?!!
Yippee on the good news and good luck with the move! xo
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