For a couple of years I lived under a guy named Stompy (psst: not his real name!). It was absolute hell, until he finally got a girlfriend and moved out. Then, thanks to the ravaged economy, I had a good six months or so of utter peace.
Then there were stirrings. People going in and out, escorted by other people with official-looking clipboards. The maintenance guy uncharacteristically doing maintenance. So I knew it was a matter of time before the jig was up.
"Let whoever moves in be a daysleeper," I thought. Or someone whose SO has a far nicer apartment. Or, I don't know, someone who hovers. No more poor students who NEVER leave!
Then I came to sense by the footfalls that it was a couple moving in. Oh no, twice the noise! Twice the chance someone will always be home! The only thing worse would be a woman. Sorry, women are LOUD. And they wear very loud shoes. Which they like to kick off and across the room at 3 in the morning.
But neither turned out to be a woman. They're both men. I assume they're gay, but maybe not. Maybe they're just ... really close. Which is what you pretty much have to be in a one bedroom apartment.
So then my thought was, oh no! Loud techno music at all hours! People coming in at 4 or 5 am! Who knows what else?
But I have been very pleasantly surprised. These boys must be Amish. I don't hear a peep. No TV, no radio, no stereo. No catfights. And they glide across the floor like ... wood sprites. So utterly quiet!
It actually makes me resent Stompy even more, because even though the floors and ceilings here are ridiculously old and creaky and thin and uninsulated, it turns out it truly was in his power to not sound like a bag of bowling balls bouncing across the hardwood.
So now I'm tip-toeing around trying to be an equally good (read: quiet) neighbor. Keeping the TV down. Trying not to hit snooze too many times. Anything to preserve this precious, precious peace.
2 comments:
They probably just aren't wearing shoes indoors. I'm married to an Asian (and also dated a few) and in Asian cultures it is totally taboo to wear shoes indoors. (which makes for some interesting fights in my marriage, but at least I don't have to vacuum very often.) And a lot of Westerners have adopted this policy, too, for health reasons.
Actually, Stompy went barefoot all the time and still managed to raise a racket. (And I agree about the shoes -- I've been going shoeless inside for 10 years or so now. It really helps keep things clean!)
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