Turning Tables

No Surprise – I’m a huge Adele fan (who isn’t), but that’s not what this is about.  I happen to live under an apartment where I can only assume that the people who live there move furniture around their apartment for a living.  At any hour of the day or night, it is not unlikely to hear a table or chair (and I wouldn’t rule out a bed or a chest of drawers, either) scratching across the floor.  I happen to have ears that are very keen to pick up noises, but these are no subtle sounds.  I can be lying in bed trying to go to bed while watching FRIENDS (duh), with a background sound of the usual outdoor noises coming through the window, when a SCREEEEECHHHH will puncture my calmness and jolt me awake.  Similarly, during the day one can hear the familiar drag across the floor at regular timely intervals. 

In truth, it doesn’t really BOTHER me.  Rather, it is just another ‘apartment-living’ component that I need to get used to.  Again, this is my first time living not in a house (incorrect English, but it is what I meant to say), and these strange noises come with the new territory.  The way building structures are made here, some of the older places (like mine) have super thin walls, and so late at night, while I’m watching FRIENDS (again, duh), I can usually hear my roommate/wall-mate laughing at whatever show she is watching as well.  Thank G-d I’m a heavy sleeper.

The only noise that I haven’t been able to get used to is the sudden slamming of the door to my room.  I have a sliding door which is only attached from the top of the door post.  As such, as it slides or even stays stationary, the bottom part of the door can easily be pushed into the room from the middle down.  To keep air flowing in my room, I usually have at least one window open, but sometimes that air pressure pulls/pushes the door into my and then releases it so that it slams back into its normal position.  During the day this is no issue, but when it suddenly bangs and wakes me unexpectedly at an hour that I am not meant to get up, I find it a bit irritating. 

I know that some people sleep with ear plugs – a habit that I know of bunch of my city-dwelling friends have taken up – but it is not something that I would want to become reliant on.  I think if I just tough it out for a couple more weeks (it has only been 3 weeks so far) it will become white noise, along with the Screechy McScratchersons upstairs.