Crumbs From the Corner: Adventures in Woolgathering

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Jumping to Conclusions



"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?"
-Jane Austen

In recent weeks new neighbours have moved in above us. To the pleasant surprise of Spouse and I, despite the presence of two children in the family, they are for the most part considerably quiet.
That was an unexpected turn: the previous tenants, who also had two children, would quite literally cause the building to shake and rattle when they climbed the stairs or when they so much as stepped across their apartment, and we presumed the same of the next people.
On occasion they would stamp so hard that I would instantly be drained of whatever creative inspiration I had been possessed of, and my muse, disturbed, would flutter away for more peaceful pastures.
It was devastating to endure such daily commotion and it is difficult to address one's neighbours about such matters as it might well have provoked the matter into more serious levels had we done so.
Many a time I commented to Spouse, "it sounds like the children are jumping off the table!"
or "I'm sure they're dragging the furniture around the room!"
But none of that made any sense at all. Children do not jump off tables on a regular basis; they might try it once but certainly sensible parents would put a stop to it.
Some weeks after the family moved away Spouse and I went down to the back of our apartment complex to dispose of some rubbish at the dumpster.
"Look," said I, "isn't that familiar?"
Covered in beetles, morning dew and long grass, I spied what looked to be our miniature trampoline. We had said goodbye to it last November in a clean sweep of our apartment, in a whimsy of frantic cleaning, and it had been duly dispatched to the dumpster. Indeed it had soon disappeared and we reasonably assumed that it had been hauled away with everything else.
Spouse and I looked at one another then and all the light dawned on us. Those neighbours had been using our very own trampoline to fill our precious hours with noise, had turned our own once-prized possession against us and had generated a good deal of frustration and in the end, had left it, abandoned, for the next new neighbours to discover and maintain the cycle.
One would hope that the grass grows rapidly over what is left of the trampoline and that it is never seen- or heard- again.
I am glad to have more dormant neighbours this time. I ought not to have presumed otherwise until they had settled in.

8 comments:

polona said...

ah, the irony of it all!
inconsiderate neighbours can be so annoying but to think you have provided them with the means of noise...
glad your new neighbours are quieter.

julochka said...

you'd better rush out there and make sure it's really hidden before the new neighbors see it! :-)

not to mock your pain in any way (i too have had noisy neighbors), but i have to admit, it is a pretty funny story...your own trampoline used against you...

Jaime said...

I can relate to this story.

I live in a suite under a house..the family's young son is one of my piano students. He is a very active child to put it lightly. And sometimes, first thing in the morning, he likes to practice the piano before he goes to school, which happens to be right above my bedroom! I love the fact that he is practicing, but he could pick a better time!
Yes, I agree...hide that trampoline now!!

Barb said...

What an interesting turn of events, all that noise caused by your own trampoline.

Maybe a sign - it is meant for you to keep it??? B

hele said...

I gave a shout of laughter when I read about the trampoline. As my mother would say - the lord moves in mysterious ways.

I agree with Julochka - better hide it quick.

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Polona, I did help them out a bit with the noise, didn't I... :( At least that's over now. Peace and quiet...

Julie, a trampoline used VERY much against me... sigh. I never thought for a moment it could be that.

Jaime, timing is everything. No matter how nice the sound, if the timing is wrong then it will just be noise. Even a piano!

Barb, I'm not sure- it's still out there. We didn't really want it to go in the first place. We needed space but since then we've made so much more room. I suppose we could take it back :)

Hele, the sky is thundering and lightning today so I don't think anyone will be going near it. If the family above us gets their hands on it... :O You're all perfectly right. I should do something. Even if that means hiding it a bit better.

mouse (aka kimy) said...

in all the up and down multifamily homes I've lived in, I only consider upper flats for this very reason! right now we are in a side by side - the best

Phyllis Hunt McGowan said...

Kimy, I agree- much better to have nobody above you. I think if the family had been a little more considerate though, like the current ones seem to be, it wouldn't have mattered so much.

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