This is my enclosed world.

Three and three-quarter rooms on the ground floor of a large, well-built but run-down two-storey house. There are now four flats: two up and two down. My flat was the original porch, living room, front bedroom and kitchen of the house. The half room is a pantry converted into a bathroom. The quarter room is a walk-in closet. There is a vestibule in the front (it used to be an open porch that is now covered up) and one connecting the kitchen to another flat in the back of the house. I have a big side window in the living room, next to a fine stone fireplace, which is blocked up. Part of the glass fell out of the upper pane of the window, and I have taped a piece of cardboard over it. The front wall, which used to be the picture window looking out through the porch, is now shelving. A leaded window running along the top of the wall is now painted rather roughly in a red, green, blue and yellow pattern. There is a globe light in the centre of the room with a fan above it. The floor is hardwood, polished rather nicely by the previous tenant. The walls are more or less white with cracks and painted over nail holes and other scars of living. There is a moorish style archway leading east into the kitchen. One wall is taken up with cupboards, a fridge, four-element electric stove and porcelain sink with side drainer. I have about 4 or 5 place settings worth of cutlery and crockery and an assortment of pots and pans and electronic food toys. The east wall has two windows. They are partly covered on the outside by a shed roof built to extend the basement (there used to be a flat there, too). I have two small tables. One is square, of some cheap softwood, stained dark brown and stuck with metal studs. I think it was supposed to look medieval. It has two matching chairs. The other table is an equally small, 50s style, with formica top and chrome legs. There are two side windows, one conventional and one leaded, along the upper wall. The bathroom, as I mentioned above, used to be a walk-in pantry. There is a small sink and mirror on the south wall, with a small window above, a toilet against the west wall, and a tub against the north wall. Every available space is a cupboard - even around the tub. The front ones no longer work, as there is a shower head installed in front of the them. The paint is peeling badly, as there is no shower stall. The bedroom, which also opens off the living room, extends the hardwood floor. About an eight of the floor is taken up by a large, cast-iron grate (the cold air return for the furnace). I have a futon mattress lying directly on the floor, a chair and a dresser. The north wall has three windows.
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"Topoļ"