The beagle has landed. We have a roof over our heads now, but not really a floor under our feet. We bought a house on 8th st* and have moved in, but are currently camping out in the basement while flooring is sorted out.
It's a bit of a transition leaving our lot in the Big Ed to being downtown with neighbours on either side in front and in back. But we're settling in.
We spent a few (? - can't remember now!) weeks house sitting here and there, but spent most of our time at Mardi and Darrell's in Arrow Heights. It was here that I had an epiphany and concluded that, no, we do not belong in Arrow Heights. Not so much because it isn't a nice place, because it was awesome up there. More it was the social shockwave of going from the Big Eddy and transcending the socio-economic ladder right to upper middle class. It was akin to social sublimation going from semi-rural-ghetto --> nice houses, mowed lawns and dogs on leashes.
What brought me to this conclusion you ask? We'll it's hard to say, but it might have been:
A) The dog running out and barking at every person that walked by, and humping any dog that came within 100m of him.
B) Yard quickly becoming overwhelmed with broken and misplaced things (underwear, toys, garden equipment)
C) Feral children wandering down the road at 8 o'clock in the morning moaning "daaaaddddyyyy!" while I was walking the dog.
D) Turd eating dog.
Yes, Big Eddy Brothers and Sisters, we're breaking new ground here! We're on the outside now and, let me tell you, it's scary. All these new and strange customs (where are the couches on the lawn? There are no broken down cars here? What happened to Ricky, Julian and Bubbles?), but we're coping. We'll miss Clean Frank and Glen and their collection of garbage bags and dishwashers on the lawn. Clarence, I'll miss your murderous gaze as you drove slowly by; Sam, how will we predict water outages if we don't see your excavator working?
Luckily for us, we have neighbours who have expertly distilled all things Big Eddy down into a 50x100' lot. Right next door. Things like
A) Cars all over the yard (which double as bedrooms, evidently)
B) Vicious dogs
C) Public wasted-ness (not just drunkeness)
D) Cooking over a campfire a la cavemen**
* we're slowly buying up all the houses on 8th st and will soon build a perimeter fence with razor wire so we can start our own religion.
** lotta squirrels around here, but fewer every day... Makes a guy wonder what they're eating over there.
