Why "22 Nelson Street"?

It's about time I explained why I chose this name (of all the names I could have gone with) for the blog. This calls for story-time! Warning: this one's going to be long(ish).

It all started some 4 and a half years ago when two equally depraved people who had known each other (almost) forever but had never spoken more than two sentences to each other (yes, and I still remember what those exact two sentences were), suddenly started talking and something clicked. The rest is history (nope, still going to force you to read all about it). Exactly four years later, they decided to make it official and move in together. Except that's not how it works in India. So they made it even more official and tolerated comments like, "I personally feel that you're too young to get married" from self proclaimed lifestyle experts who always know the right time to do everything. To all of them, they said, "We personally feel that the only difference between your opinion and our coffee is that we asked for coffee" (Inspiration: this pin). No, just kidding. This couple always chose to avoid conflict and has hardly ever made grown-ass men and women cry themselves to sleep :) By now you should have guessed that I was talking about me and Shane.

We knew we were moving in together. But moving in where? Then started the house hunting process and the only criterion was the house's proximity to The Husband's office because we're lazy and like to stay in bed till 9 a.m. every morning. And believe it or not, he still gets to work at 10 a.m after taking a shower and having a full breakfast (did I mention that he walks to work?). My chest was threatening to explode with pride while I was typing that last sentence. Anyway, long story short, we found a perfect little apartment in New Town, Edinburgh that matched the one criterion we had in mind. Nothing else mattered, really.

So let me interest you with some fun facts about 22 Nelson Street that made it worthy of getting a whole blog named after it:

  • Location: 22 Nelson Street is located in a calm, happy and posh (judging by the kind of parties some of our neighbours throw) neighbourhood. The closest Sainsbury's and Tesco are a mere 6 and 10 minute walk away (respectively). The Husband's office in Princes Street is a mere 11 min walk from here, which makes Princes Street (do I even need to explain?) an exact 11 min walk from our home! What more could one ask for? Proximity to the Edinburgh Castle? 20 mins on foot, guys. Just 20 minutes from where we live.

  • Ignore point number 1 ^. We only care about being able to stay in bed till 9 a.m.

  • Our Fridge: is the smallest fridge in the world. You'll know I'm not exaggerating when you see this:

"Why are you taking a picture of me while I'm squatting, you creep?":

"Don't flatter yourself, honey! I was trying to take a picture of how embarrassingly small our fridge is."

"Oh cool. Let me stand right next to it so that you have my (barely) five foot tall body for scale":

  • Freezer: The fridge is small and we can only buy groceries for up to 4 days at a time. Not complaining because we can live with that. But within our first month here, we noticed some unusual activity in the fridge. Almost everything began to freeze over. Everything including the milk. That's when we realized that the freezer's door was broken (someone - previous tenants maybe? - had broken the handle of the door so it stays partially open at all times) and the tiny freezer of our tiny fridge was freezing everything inside. We finally handled the issue like pros by fastening the door with duct tape and Blu-Tack. Couldn't be more proud of ourselves. Especially while we longingly stare at 1 liter boxes of ice cream in grocery stores, knowing fully well that we wouldn't be able to store them anywhere.

  • Double glazing: "What's that?", ask the windows at 22 Nelson Street. It's winter already and on some days, we freeze (like that poor milk bottle from months ago). So do our friends, when they come over. The only saving grace is the gas fireplace in our living room which we haven't turned on yet because we're lazy.

  • The Couch: Fits two people. "So what's the problem?", you ask? That's the problem. It fits two people who like to sit straight with their feet on the floor, like civilised adults. Not two people who like to simultaneously lie-down and watch TV. And although one of us is bigger than the average man and the other is smaller than the average woman, it doesn't seem to work for us. We don't like you, couch. Your faux leather surface sometimes freezes my ass when I park it on you.

  • Exhaust fan: The exhaust fan in the one and only bathroom in our apartment has mood swings. And her moods are worse than those of the only female inhabitant of the house during PMS. She sometimes decides to scream Bloody Murder while someone is taking a shower or worse, you guessed it.

  • Mail: We receive junk mail like everyone else and we don't mind. But we do mind when we still receive mails addressed to the previous tenants. Especially after we repeatedly handed them over to the agency that rented out this apartment to us. Make them stop, goddammit!!!!! How hard can it be? We're seriously considering putting out a sign like this one that we saw in London:

  • Beep: For the past week, we have been haunted by this constant beeping sound coming from somewhere in the apartment. Both The Husband and I sniffed around the house like bloodhounds, trying to figure out what was going to explode in our faces. We finally found out that the smoke alarm in the hallway needed new batteries. Although this isn't the fault of the previous tenants or the agency, we feel like we want to blame someone. So we blame the house in general because we had to go through a great deal of trouble, pulling out a stool and straining our necks while replacing the batteries.

So here's my explanation:

22 Nelson Street fit the one criterion we took into account for our first home. And it fit that criterion perfectly. It came with one pro and a shit-ton of cons. None of our friends would agree to live here and if we knew any better and actually inspected the house well before taking it, we probably wouldn't either. But for all it's flaws, this is our first home together. And this is the happiest home either of us have ever lived in. I will cherish the memories we have made (and will continue to make) in this tiny little apartment for as long as I'm alive. And that's why it was special enough for this blog to be named after it.

Finally, here's a picture of The Husband after he kicked me out of the couch and claimed it all for himself:


Disclaimer: We understand that the root cause of most of our problems with the house is our laziness. Laziness in general defines Shankita. And Shankita do not intend to stop being lazy. Ever. Thank you.