I’ve been in my new apartment less than a week now, and I’ve been exploring Greenpoint a bit. There’s a great park a couple blocks away (no, not that one) with a nice dog run, lined with modest European-style townhouses, a bunch of small shops shilling Polish goods, and lots more little old ladies than Williamsburg. It’s a nice, quiet neighborhood. Everywhere, that is, except for my bedroom.
The too-cheap-to-pass-up sublet, still worth it despite slanted floors (that’s another post in itself…), sits just in the shadows of the Brooklyn super-highway that is the BQE. All the car-owning New Yorkers and truck drivers speed by my window at all hours of the day and night, causing major sleep troubles in this household (boy, were we spoiled by that house at Lorimer. A back yard! No street noise!!). The first night we moved in, nobody slept much. The second night, we tried earplugs which helped. The third night, we played pink noise through the stereo to drown out the traffic. We’re pretty much back to a full night’s sleep, but definitely not able to sleep in. This apartment will do wonders for our weekend productivity!
Despite all the noise troubles, I must say that we are much better [first link via kottke] off than we could be as New York City apartment dwellers. I’ll take the BQE noise over some crazy, note-writing neighbor any day!
