There should be a handbook on apartment living handed out to every renter as soon as they are given the keys to the apartment. Because it seems that in this day and age, people need to be told what the proper etiquette is for living in close quarters to other people. They have no concept of what is going on around them that there are other people in very close proximity to them. I have been living in an apartment here for almost a month now coming from living in single family dwellings, (houses) for almost all of my life. I had no one above or below me, no one on either side of me and no one in a building within ten feet of me. Granted I didn’t run around stark naked with the blinds open for the world to see, I had a neighbor that liked to run around outside in the wee hours of the morning naked, watering his plants. I had some sense of privacy, but not here.
I don’t know any of my close apartment neighbors personally, but I know a lot about a few of them. We should feel either very safe or very scared because I think the Abominable Snowman lives above us. I don’t have a clue what he or she looks like but whoever it is they have the heaviest footsteps. I always know what room he is in by the sound of the footsteps. That he hasn’t come through the ceiling is a testament to the construction of the floors. I just hope the snowman likes dogs, as friends, not food.
Then there is the couple in the next building one floor higher that our apartment. They either are hard of hearing or don’t like each other much. On more than one occasion we have had the “pleasure” of listening to their conversations. One night their very animated heated conversation woke me up. Their voices echoed down and in the windows of the bedroom and from the tone I waited for bullets to fly or the sound of plates smashing. I couldn’t tell what they were saying because it was in a different language, which sucks because here I was wide awake in the middle of the night listening in on a huge fight and had no idea what they were saying.
Lastly the woman who lives in the next building on the same floor as us likes to sit out on her patio and have conversations on her cell phone in speaker mode. The two patios are about fifteen feet apart with some bushes to give each some modicum of privacy. I can’t see her, but I know all about her mother and her mother’s relationship with a man. It seems the daughter doesn’t approve.
I just shake my head and wonder what goes through people’s heads at times. Do they not have a clue that they are not alone in the world? Or is it me? Am I the weird one because I am not a long time apartment dweller that these things bother me? Do people get de-sensitized to the close proximity of other people just like everyone seems to be de-sensitized to violence on television? I hope I’m not here long enough to find out.
A woman's view of hunting...with men 
At least you’re keeping your sense of humor; that’s the key to being able to keep from having to worry about where to bury the bodies.
I can fully empathize; when I retired, I moved into an apartment, and have experienced the very same issues, and still do. My own neighbor, in a duplex, babysits her grandkids most days; one of them is teething, one is a toddler who enjoys expressing his delight by screaming, and, they all talk to each other at the top of their voices from across the house, never realizing it is like having them live in my pocket… They’re nice people, but, LOUD….
Best of luck in finding something more secluded; I’m looking for that myself….
gigoid
I will keep my fingers crossed for you.
Thanks, me too… which saves me from saying ‘ditto’ & sounding like Rush the Mush=brain…
;=)
You do know how to make my day
We share a wall of our house with neighbours – and we both actually own these places! I can’t tell you how much I dislike it – even though they are very nice and usually quiet. I’m pretty sure I’m the asshole loud neighbour; I HATE that I can’t have a good temper-tantrum when I need to! But we are fair – hubby is loud with his DJ show once a week, and their kids have their own band-shed with all instruments. To be honest, the kids playing music bothers me not at all – probably because I like their taste in tunes!
That always helps
I’d not like having Bigfoot upstairs, though…
I’m surprised the dogs don’t bark but it doesn’t seem to bother them. I must be overly sensitive.
Nah. They just don’t realise it’s a human making that noise!
Maybe so but they are taking it stride better
Time to have a good walkie and think like a dog, I guess? How long do you have to suffer it all?
Until we find a house. Not forever. Washington is beautiful we are looking around the different areas that are not too far for mitch to commute to and from work. I’m working from home so I can live anywhere.
Oh good! I have a lot of family in Oregon, and WA seems quite similar but less trendy – so hopefully less expensive! Unless you are near the commute-border 😳
No his commute is to the airport
Good! I bet it is lovely and green there.
Actually this year we are suffering through a drought. It is the worst in Washington history for wildlifes. We finally had rain this weekend.
Oh yes, my Oregon fam was saying that. Quite rare to have fires in that area – it seems a lot like Ireland, to be honest.
Oh, the couple at our old apartment who argued always did so in some unknown language. Really, if they were going to argue loud enough for the whole complex to hear, the least they could have done was to do so in English so the rest of us could have enjoyed.
Absolutely I know what fun is it when you can’t understand what is being said