Monday, July 7, 2008

I'm Back

The boxes are almost all unpacked, the cable and internet are hooked up and the commute is proving manageable and even pleasant. Thus ends the first week in Great Neck. I spent a rather manic day last week getting a slew of mundane things accomplished; parking permit, library card, parks card, DMV, a trip to Home Depot. Unlike the City of New York, you need a permit or card of some sort to access the services provided by the Village of Great Neck. I suppose they don’t want any interlopers from across the Queens line to sneak in and enjoy the cool refreshing waters of the Parkwood Swimming Pool. After living within the five boroughs of New York City for the last 20 years, it is a very strange feeling to be able to access parks, beaches and well-stocked libraries without filling out forms, waiting on lines or being ground into dust by the effort it takes to get to them. I remember discovering when I moved to Staten Island that on the week-end the MTA turned off all subway service from 14th Street to Battery Park (for repairs) every week-end. Going to Manhattan on a Sunday required a ferry ride, then either a cab (impossible to find) or a bus, whose appearance in the Wall-Street area on a Sunday was about as rare an occurrence as finding a unicorn in Red Hook.

The kicker is that I’m not paying for any of it. Since I don’t own a home I am simply leeching off the super-rich up in Kings Point who probably pay more in property taxes that I make in a year. Granted I don’t have my own personal tennis court or even a backyard, but if I exit my apartment building and turn left I can be in a pleasant fully-equipped –for-children park in less than a minute and there are something like a hundred million public tennis courts in Great Neck.

Of course the home front will take a little bit of tweaking until everything is up and running but that’s to be expected. The move is a big deal for all of us. Aside from some miscommunication earlier in the week-end Erin and I have been fitting together quite nicely and the kids have been getting along as well. I did have to hide the Shrek II DVD yesterday after realizing that D-Train was on his 3rd viewing and I was getting starting to get alarmed that he was doing some permanent damage to his brain’s processing unit. Jack has also been in rare form since he has 4 teeth coming in at the same time. This has made him rather unhappy and me a little jumpy. Last night he had clearly reached his limit for travel, pain and hunger and he let me know it in no uncertain terms. Children can make some very annoying noises when they’re upset. Noises that zero in on your one irritated nerve and pluck it like a bowstring. Thank god when I put him down to sleep last night he had the decency to just roll over, insert his thumb, and drift off to the place where there are no molars, the chicken nuggets are always crispy and the sippy cup is always full of juice.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you both survived the move, more or less. Sounds like you are in a great neighborhood. Teething is a horror show at my house. Can't WAIT until that is over. I rely on ice cubes wrapped in a burp cloth, ice + water in a sippy cup and Infant Motrin. And my 2 favorite prayers, "Give me strength," and "Please God help me." One of those things usually helps. My money's on the Motrin.

Mark said...

Jack has been on and off the teething for a couple weeks now. When I was changing his diaper the other night I noticed that there were a few more molars looking to make an appearance.A couple must have appeared today because my little angel was a total freak today. Motrin takes the edge off but its a band-aid on a bullet hole. Believe me, I feel your pain. And his (or hers).
M

Mark said...

Her pain. Just went to your flickr page. Your daughter is beautiful.
M