Friday, February 01, 2013

home sweet home

We are toying with a potentially big decision: moving to a new flat(new to us, not new to Romulus and Remus) or staying where we are. It's the devil you know verses the devil you don't. In the devil we know, the hot water cuts out and it's cold in the winter and hot in the summer, and the doorknobs fall off, and you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

But it is in an excellent location, within walking distance to all the bells and whistles for which Rome is known, plus we have a park across the street and floor-to-ceiling windows in every room. So it's very bright and sunny and surrounded by beauty.

However, it is horrifyingly expensive and I just killed an ant on the kitchen counter. I still have to light the stove with a match and one of our landlord's couches is still in our dining room. And there are still a lot of people ahead of us on the waiting list to rent a parking spot. Rumor has it that King Umberto II was on the list for a parking space in Rome but alas, he died before a spot became available.

We have looked extensively at other places in the city, but there is always something wrong with them as well: no kitchen appliances; no access to public transportation; no place to take the dogs; having to agree to allow the landlord's 30 year-old-son to bunk with us...

And so when I see ads for flats that cost the same but have modern kitchens or built-in closets, plus a parking space and a terrace and a community swimming pool, I can't help but be seduced.

The problem? Because you know there is one...they are not in Rome proper. The address might be Rome, but they are not in downtown center-city Rome. They are not in walk-the-dogs-to-the-Coliseum Rome. They are not in go-for-a-run-by-the-Circus-Maximus Rome.

And like a horrified Elaine on Seinfeld with her "new" Manhattan area code, or a rather-die-than-move-to-Brooklyn Miranda on Sex and the City, I just don't know if I can do it. I'm already a Rome convert. I don't know if I want to go outside the ring road.

But I'll bet they have dishwashers there.

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