Greetings from Cleveland

Greetings from Cleveland

I write from the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. I am returning to New Jersey after a 2-night stay in Ohio, apartment hunting. It was a truly interesting trip.

I was set up with a company known as CORT, a Berkshire Hathaway company, to show me around the areas around Solon Ohio and take me to apartments that I might like. There are two agents working on my relocation. One can be described as a House Agent, who sits behind the computer and googles apartments and amusements, and calls them to arrange tours for clients, showings for apartments, etc. The other, presumably the junior agent, is the Field Agent, who takes you on the tour, ferries you from one apartment to another.

I was set up with a female House Agent and a Male Field Agent. I met him bright and early on Friday morning at a CORT showroom (CORT also sells furtniture, so they have showrooms, and this Field Agent of mine is apparently also a furniture salesman for the very wealthy). The Field Agent, hereafter Agent X, is middle-aged, with a receding hairline and an unfortunate bald spot smack in the middle of his head. If he were a character in an Agatha Christie novel, she might describe him as nondescript. I prefer to use the word forgettable. He is the sort of man who is just designed to blend in, to fade into the background, to be forgotten. There is something truly remarkable about just how unremarkable he is. I tell you, he would make a great criminal because he looks harmless, utterly innocuous. In any case, I met Agent X at the door, and he showed me around the area, describing in his monotonous voice the many pleasant attractions of the Cleveland Area. It might feel like I am being a little unkind to this man, but once I got over the “chirpiness" of the man, I quickly realized that he is the epitome of a mid-Westerner: male, Caucasian, middle-aged, and sadly, boring.

Anyway, we eventually visited about 12 apartments, some more expensive than others, some better kept than others. The 3rd apartment building we visited was my favorite, and it was the one to which I would eventually return to process a lease application.

I understand that this is a long-term position, that I will be at this job for at least 2 years (at the absolute least), and I might very well be in this plant for up to 4 years. With this in mind, I really wanted a comfortable place. Despite the fact that the rent is a little higher than the jawdroppingly low prices I had glimpsed on the internet, I decided that it was safest to go with my heart and pick an apartment I really like. It’s a detached 1-bedroom apartment, with grey wooden panels for walls, and a modest garden by the pathway. Most importantly, it has a tennis court, so I can play tennis all-day, everyday if I want to. I have a feeling that Cleveland will be good to me. Unlike crime-ridden Philadelphia, it's a relatively peaceful city without the noise, filth and congestion of most large cities of a similar size. The airport, I must confess, is a disgrace of a dump - a small, run-down set of rooms without a decent restaurant. It needs an upgrade - sharpish.

Anyway, till tomorrow or after, take care.