24.8.08

The Biggest Yard Sale

There are approximately 13,000 graduate students and 7,000 undergraduates at Harvard. The majority of these students live in Harvard affiliated housing. Whilst some of this housing is dorm-style where basic furniture is provided, the majority of students live in small, unfurnished studios or one-bedroom apartments. With the average graduate degree lasting 2 years, this amounts to a high turn-over of both lodgings and the furniture that goes with it. The result? Come the beginning of September the biggest "yard" sale of cheap furniture and storage items I've ever seen. Everywhere you look there are things for sale: walk down the street, turn the corner and invariably there will be some piece of furniture going at a price. Walking home yesterday I found myself in a housing complex that caters for families. Outside was the unofficial babies and kids toys Yard Sale: rows and rows of pushes, bassinettes and toys (no photos unfortunately).
Today I discovered this:
This sale is open every weekend 10am-3pm until the end of September. All the furniture in this photo will be sold by the end of the day. They have another two truck loads for Sunday and still more for the following weekends. Everything you could possibly need in a dorm from coat-hangers to couches and microwaves.
The benefit of this (and other sales) is that my apartment is slowly starting to take shape. My mattress arrived today so I am now able to sleep on my bed, I also bought a second hand armchair so that I can do my reading in the alcove looking over the Charles.

1 comment:

Clare said...

The sky looks so blue and clear and summery. I wish I had been to sales like that. I don't know how many times in the last 3 years I have bought a clothes horse, coat hangers and tiny bins for the bathroom!!