Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Apartment Living Can Be Tricky

There is a new tenant in the apartment above mine. I haven't determined, yet, whether there is more than one. Most of the time, there only seems to be one. But, then, some days, there appear to be two of them, if the footfalls say anything. And, then, again, some weekends, there seems to be a child running back and forth. I may never know. I never run into her/them when I go out.

Some things I do know, though. One of them seems to be obsessive-compulsive. She vacuums almost every day, and I've know her to vacuum twice in a day. This morning, she leapt out of bed, grabbed the vacuum and started in before 8 O'clock a.m. I know she smokes, because she goes out on the porch to do it. I know she has a boyfriend, because she necks with him on the porch sometimes. And, I know that sometimes he spends the night ( don't ask). She plays her boom box sometimes, a little loudly, but like all young people her age, she has a short attention span, and turns it off within a few minutes.

As upstairs tenants go, there's no noise problem, so far. She is in and out all day, and comes in very late at night. But, there's no loud talking ever, just the sound of scurrying feet, and that blamed vacuum.

If this is a bad as it gets, I'll never complain. I've had some people living above me who made me crazy. The worst were the boys, who were apparently away from home for the first time. They started out fairly quiet. Then, as the school year (Community College) wore on, they became noisier and noisier. They started having parties. They played their boom boxes at the highest setting. It made my ceiling fan vibrate. It finally got so bad, I had to complain to the management. It usually takes three complaints, three separate incidents, to get the managers irritated enough with the complainers, to take action. After the third complaint, this time from their next door neghbors, they were told to leave. So, they had one more big bash. And, it was a doozy. There's no telling how many kids were up there that night, all of them jumping and running and scuffling around, in and out, up and down the metal stairs. One of them threw up in the bushes under my window. Then, went upstairs, and proceeded to barf over the railing. Charming.

There are certain similarities in all of the tenants. They all seem to walk quickly and heavily. And, they all seem to jump off of the furniture, whether it be out of their beds in the morning, or out of a chair. They all seem to have butterfingers, and drop heavy things on the floor. Some of them dribble basketballs across the living room. There were two girls in an apartment in another part of the building who used to tap dance in the kitchen.

All in all, though, I'm happy in an apartment. A few years ago, I sold my house and held an auction of almost everything I owned, and moved into my small place, and never looked back. The only thing is, I need more bookcases.

5 comments:

Joe @ Joe.com said...

Have you ever spent any time in the woods?

Jay said...

Tap dancing in the kitchen? I've never heard of anyone doing that. That's pretty funny. I've had upstairs neighbors do aerobics though. That's always fun.

Ginnie said...

You bring back a lot of memories but it was years ago. Actually I loved living in an apartment but I didn't get much sleep. I especially loved hearing the saxaphone player practice!

Maya's Granny said...

I had a next apartment neighbor who played his music full ROAR at 2 a.m. Since he couldn't hear me knock on the wall, I had to go outside and down my staircase and then up his to get his attention. But then, I made him come back with me, in the pouring rain, and stand in my bedroom and listen to the noise.

He, also, had a noise-making party when he was evicted. He didn't know that the breakers for his apartment were in mine, and I just pulled them. My, friends leave fast when there is no electricity. I didn't turn it back on for him until the next afternoon. Felt good.

Betty said...

ginnie: I would only like to listen to that saxophone if Kenny G lived above me.

Maya's granny: What a good solution. I wish I had the upstairs breaker box in my place!