Friday, August 28, 2009

Stuff on the Balcony

Our flat in Rivne has a balcony on the east side. It's great to have a balcony with your apartment because then you have a place to hang out your clothes, and a place to store food when it's cold out; it's kind of like a mini back porch (the size of a bath tub) if you have enough imagination.

Our balcony has great potential to be all these things, but unfortunately it has become the catch all for the owner and perhaps previous tenants of this 2 room plus kitchen domicile.
I've made lots of trips to the trash already, but when the junk isn't really yours it's harder to dump it, a person just doesn't feel so free somehow.
We have lots of wardrobes in our place, this is great too, except that the owner and perhaps previous tenants have left junk in the wardrobes too: a child's winter coat, a leather jacket, a fur coat, a busted radio, a locked briefcase, and so on ad infinitum. I asked the landlord about the coats, “just put it on the balcony” is his pat reply when ever I ask him about any of this junk. There is a plastic 60 liter drum with a screw on lid (for making pickles) also out on the balcony; that's where I put the moth eaten fur coat. And screwed the lid on tight. That has somewhat decreased the moth population in our place.

There was a washing machine out there too. We have reinstated it and are using it for our laundry. It's actually just a laundry agitator; it whirls the laundry around until it's all in knots, then we undo all the kinks and do a manual rinse in buckets in the bathtub, then we spin it out in our spin dryer, a gift from Holland (they had 6 to give away at the convention place there; Karen brought it in for us. Thank you thank you thank you!!!!)
There is also a windshield from a car out there. Oh, you don't see it? Well, look here...

I'm not sure if it's a Saab windshield or not, likely not...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the way you write......you bring it all to life. You and Sven have wonderful personalities and sense of humor!
Thinking of you Trude and am on your journey with you.
Nancy Paddon

The J's said...

Just stopping by to see what's up in your side of the world, and say hi!

alleykat said...

Oh wow, hi J's, and thanks Nancy! :)

Anita said...

It's totally you, for sure. I'm still interested to know if there's a slippage-at-the-edges issue... does it slope?

I'm happy if you're happy! ;)

alleykat said...

slopes, but i don't live on the edge.

Ethel said...

well, i'm glad you ascertained if the briefcase was locked or not. i wonder if the previous owner would mind much if you painted on it? they might be pleasantly surprised...or maybe give it to you?
i've always wanted to have a glass topped desk..i've always imagined having a fish aquarium dest..maybe with the windshield on top? hmmm

Diane T. said...

Trude, I love your creativity. Maybe you could start a new trend with your glass top table with the curved edges.

kara said...

your desk made me laugh out loud; thanks for that:)

Karen said...

It took me awhile to get here, but it was certainly worth the trip!
Are you SURE you don't live on the edge??? Has nothing fallen to it's spillage yet?
Keep on keepin' on!

Sven said...

Ha, sorry it took so long for me to check in on you but M. Blair was just cracking up here the other night (if you can believe that) telling us about your new table. I think its the start of a new trend. The problem with those is company can see when you are kicking your partner underneath!

Anonymous said...

haha, so now whenever my parents complain that i've left "junk" behind at their house, i'll be able to reply: put it on the balcony!!!

btw- very creative, that laptop table of yours, as others also said ;-)