Thursday, January 04, 2007

Here we go again

Barring unforeseeable catastrophes, it looks like we've sold the old homestead today. We have a great offer and we're going to accept it. We also saw yesterday a lovely house on a wonderful block on St. Paul Street in the oh-so-trendy Charles Village section of Baltimore, near a fabulous market, a new Gucci Giant grocery, a new YMCA, a new B&N that caters to academics, and our favorite Thai restaurant, aptly named Thai Restaurant. Of course if we buy this house we won't be able to afford eating out, unless I pawn my library of books, CDs, and DVDs at Normal's. Also nearby? Johns Hopkins University, The BMA, and Pete's Grille. And, I can hop the number 8 bus to work every day and maintain my joyously carless existence.

The street number of this house combines Cha's and my lucky numbers. Cross your fingers for us anyway!

15 comments:

Heather said...

Good luck! I love that block too.

Geoff said...

Thanks! We'd be near that church where they always have indy rock shows and Tai Chi classes. Fun!

Anonymous said...

Oh my god. Love the neighborhood, love the house, wish you the best of luck, but I can't let this blithe reference to just hopping on the 8 bus slide. Not to mention any sentence that somehow makes the 8 bus responsible for joy.

The 8 bus is not joyous, my friend. It is the gateway to hell. BEWARE.

Em

Anonymous said...

Hate to say it, but Jesse would concur with Emily's statement there. He watched a bunch of people getting off the bus at Towson Circle recently and said "Remember when --" and then shuddered.

The house, however, is gorgeous.

Geoff said...

I know about the number 8. I've ridden it twice recently--and witnessed a junky pissing himself and a fistfight. My commute time would go from five minutes each way to 45 minutes each way, and that's not counting the time spent walking to the bus stop and waiting for it to show up!

I think the number 11 bus is a more elegant ride, but it takes even longer.

Not owning a car is still joyous, but ask me in a few months if I still feel that way.

Silenus said...

I lived 2 blocks up. It's a nice part of town. They just put up a condo with a Chiplote and Starbucks in it (your favorite). I took the 8 out of necessity sometimes. It got shot at with an air-rifle when I was on it one time. Another time someone threw a cherry bomb at the people waiting for the bus. Also, some big fat kid sat on me once when I was taking it downtown. My opinion is if you're taking it home while it's still daylight then you're fine. Don't wait on Greenmount for it though. The 11 pretty much sucks. Some of the 11s don't got to Towson either. Some of them go out to Ruxton. You gotta look at the scroll. That house looks nice. Do you have the bay windows and the hardwood floors?

Geoff said...

Yes and yes. And lots of lovely carved mantles surrounding bricked over fireplaces.

Y'all are going to make me break down and buy a Vespa.

Anonymous said...

or one of those segueys (sp?) ha ha ha
you'll surely be pelted with cerry bombs THEN!

Geoff said...

Oh Jesus. A five-mile-ride on a Segue? I'd bike it first. Might as well buy a tire patch kit and pump now!

Anonymous said...

Looks great, but there's a missing ... I dunno, supernatural element.

Geoff said...

Thanks for the jinx, Steve. If Willard follows us to the new place I'm driving him up the road to Jersey.

Anonymous said...

The 11 is great if you can find one. I remember me and various other borders employees used to have to haul ass over to Washington & Allegheny (I think) at 1130 to dodge taking the 8 home.

I'm glad you have your eyes open. Also, upside: so many many bus stories.

Emily

Geoff said...

I tried to ride the 11 downtown once. It stops here in front of the SFA office at Bosley and Towsontown. Every hour on the hour in the morning, and then only one stop at like 3:50 in the afternoon. I waited for it from 3:40 until about 4:20 and just gave up hope.

It's a perfectly reasonable bike ride from Charles Village to Towson--I worry about sweat, though, given that there is no shower in the office. Also, a flat tire on Charles Street at like 6:45am? That sucks.

Perhaps I'll just get a job at JHU and continue walking to work. I could manage Chipotle or something-NOT!

Anonymous said...

excellent news! Seemed much easier than my neighbor, whose loft has been for sale for months now, without an offer. She's probably asking too much for it, or the market is different here, or something.

Geoff said...

The market here is weird now. We asked for less than we'd originally planned because so many houses were sitting on the market recently. We expected to get offers 20k under what we asked, and planned to wait for our price for months if necessary. There's a townhouse two streets east of us that has been on the market for more than half a year. It's had many updates and is priced less than what we asked.

In retrospect, we likely could have listed for 20k higher. That's how it goes!