Today was the day for the maid to come. Maria dislikes being there for the whole time, she feels she just gets under her feet. So it being another lovely day we took the Downtown Shuttle to South Street Sea Port and then walked back via the Amish Market.
We are very lucky to be so near the Hudson, there are some very nice walks and lawns along the edge of it. A lot of the lawns are closed for the winter and there is a lot of work going on on the flower beds. I think it’s going to be lovely next time we come over.
By the time we got back the maid had nearly finished. She is really excelllent and does a superb job, but she does have a tendency to tidy EVERYTHING away, se we spent a while after she left making the apartment lived in again. It’s all very different from home, I gather tidyness is not one of Marias strong points (something about creative spirits etc??).
We had the door onto the balcony slightly open, it really was a lovely day and the balcony is a bit of a sun trap, and we could hear there was some shouting etc.going on. We went out to have a look and saw a demonstration up the road.
We couldn’t quite read the plackards but it seemed to be about housing. The minimum wage here is just over $5 an hour and we saw an article in the papers about how it is possible to find affordable apartments at around just (!?)$1,000 a month if you search carefully!
The apartments around this area are of course much more than that and the ones around Upper West Side are way way more expensive. I don’t know how people manage.
Maria is rather grumpy this evening, first she scalded her knuckles while cooking and then punctured the palm of her hand with the awl while working on a bear. She’s playing the martyr and saying things like ‘It’s no job for a grown woman.’
Ahhhh. Poor Maria. It really isn’t any job for a grown woman (though I hear it puts hairs on your chest!)