Monday, November 24, 2008

FLATS

A Flat can mean a lot of things. Just try to look it up in the dictionary. It can be a shoe, a note that is below pitch, anything horizontal with no dips or rises. In England it is a residential area? Or a living space of less than 30 square meters. It is about that meaning, that I write, specifically the type that are upstairs or downstairs in a subdivided house, at one time the complete home somebody built and lived in.

I have been thinking for a while about the various apartments and living spaces I have had since leaving home to seek my fortune.

Many of those early places that I called apartments were actually flats. I first explored the romance of living above another residence long before I ever paid rent on such a place. When I was young it was safe, or thought safe for girl scouts, even brownies to go door to door in their neighborhood to sell cookies. Cookies back then were about 40 or 45 cents for a box. As far as I can tell the boxes have not changed, although the price is considerably more. We had the original shortbread, perhaps a sandwich cookie, and a new one called chocolate mint, which have never ceased being my personal favorite.

Well, on the street behind us, which had sidewalks, there were sometimes two residences in one house. The second residence was usually upstairs, and the number on the door had the fraction 1/2 in its number. I do not know if my mother knew this, but when I asked her after the fact, she did not seem overly concerned. Our life in the 1950’s was much more innocent than these times when no kid goes door to door to do anything, and especially not alone. Mother explained that these were apartments that were upstairs over the house. I found that fascinating. Then I realized that my grandmother’s house was subdivided into flats, and so was my Uncle's house. I suspect that he was able to maintain his lifestyle from the rent from these three or four flats that his big brown house on Lincoln Avenue contained. I wonder if that house ever had been lived in totally by one family. It was really quite large.

There were lots of old homes that had been subdivided like that in Port Huron. I wonder about the history of these houses. Did they get divided during the great depression when my mother told me that many families lived in some houses while others were boarded up? Or were they divided before then to accommodate relatives, or as income property? My friend M. B. and I once cleaned the windows on one of the upper flats for my uncle. I can’t remember if there was a little porch, or if we actually went out and stood on the porch roof to clean the outside windows, when my friend realized that here she was standing on a rooftop almost on the main drag of the city, but we did this. Young people are impervious to fear. I think if I tried that today, I would fall through.

Then later on when I was in college I actually knew people who lived in such subdivided space and I discovered the word, “flat” which I guessed referred to the fact that other than the entryway, there were no stairs in these spaces. There were upper flats (with the 1/2 in the address) and lower flats that probably included the original living space. I lived in quite a few of these places while in college and visited even more that my friends lived in. When I started teaching, some of my friends lived in these, but I started living in apartments in real apartment buildings, and eventually landed in my present 1000 square foot, three level condo. Had I been able to learn the ins and outs of stairway life earlier in my adulthood, I perhaps would have looked for a condo on one level that would not now have the challenges of stairs.

With my space all on one or perhaps, two levels I would not have the need of three televisions, several radios, two microwaves, two coffeepots, and various other duplicate items purchased or retained only because of the convenience of being able to use them at whatever level I found myself. But I am grateful for my quarters that almost totally belong to me now. I do not think the bank will decide to move into it’s portion of my dwelling, but if they did that would be *interesting. (*No pun intended) Seems like when you have two coffee pots, you drink more coffee. Maybe not so good.

I can still remember when I was here with no furniture, hardly, and no roommate. How large it looked. How I loved my big bright windows. And the open staircase, How appealing it looked. I still like those features. Back then I didn’t need two microwaves, or televisions. But it was easy to acquire them, as the old ones were not quite done being used when the new ones came. I like my life here, and I just don’t go running up or down the stairs, like I would run up or down a hallway, or would I even do that? Who knows? Certainly not me.

Well it is almost time to go run up the stairway to get ready to go to choir. It is dark outside, and our much begged for extra rehearsal is tonight. I hope I can do better, and I hope the rest of the choir does better also. We sing our first number the eve before Thanksgiving, and the concert the following week. We did not feel ready last week, and need the encouragement of a successful rehearsal. Hope so anyway!

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving, however you decide to spend this day. Be Thankful. We have much for which to give thanks.


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