Two things I forgot to mention earlier
First, I thought my description of Monday during the parents' visit looked a little too sparse. We cruised looking at at houses for a while, but not that long. We actually went to the Louisville Zoo, which was, unsurprisingly, not as good as the San Diego Zoo, but not too bad for a zoo in a community the size of Louisville. They have a surprisingly good collection of reptiles, and at least a few interesting larger species as well. I'm glad to have been -- it's a pretty prominent feature of the city, and it's worth knowing that it's pretty decent. Not quite as good as the hype makes it out to be, but I file that under Louisville's generally disproportionate sense of civic pride.
Second, one piece of interesting news from the last week. The upstairs neighbors are moving out! I haven't written about them much because there's not much to say: their virtues are apparently nonexistent, and their vices are not interesting enough to make good stories. I'd written them off as alcoholics who listen to their radio too loud late at night. They intruded themselves on my consciousness mostly when their friends forgot which doorbell was which, or when the maintenence man came by and happened to talk about their various crimes and personal failings (I figured Dwayne was the quasi-official mouthpiece of the landlords and that I had no interest in getting mixed up in that, but no amount of emoting not-giving-a-shit could convince him that I would not be thrilled by/shocked by/interested in their scandalous goings-on).
Anyways, enough on the history, let's get to this week. We had a pick-up truck pulling up to the front door of the house (a Louisvillism I don't get: people think nothing of driving onto and parking on their lawns. I'd always been used to considering it something that was Not Done. Particularly when it's rained as much as it has lately) and the sounds of heavy things being moved. I figured the best thing to do would be to keep my head down and hope they were moving out. Which they were doing, in the most awkward and destructive way possible. Somewhere in there they managed to destroy three windows (one of which was already cracked -- perhaps the complete destruction will induce the landlord to replace it), gouge a bit out of the wall in the vestibule, yell at the top of their lungs, and attract the attention of three police cruisers at once. Things seemed to quiet down, but to my surprise the second story remained occupied. But they've since shown up to replace the locks and asked the one remaining tenant what the hell he's still doing there.
And this morning there was an eviction notice on the door. No, not addressed to me, silly.
Practical upshot of this: I no longer have annoying neighbors, or at least will not as of tomorrow. I may get new ones at some point.
Second, one piece of interesting news from the last week. The upstairs neighbors are moving out! I haven't written about them much because there's not much to say: their virtues are apparently nonexistent, and their vices are not interesting enough to make good stories. I'd written them off as alcoholics who listen to their radio too loud late at night. They intruded themselves on my consciousness mostly when their friends forgot which doorbell was which, or when the maintenence man came by and happened to talk about their various crimes and personal failings (I figured Dwayne was the quasi-official mouthpiece of the landlords and that I had no interest in getting mixed up in that, but no amount of emoting not-giving-a-shit could convince him that I would not be thrilled by/shocked by/interested in their scandalous goings-on).
Anyways, enough on the history, let's get to this week. We had a pick-up truck pulling up to the front door of the house (a Louisvillism I don't get: people think nothing of driving onto and parking on their lawns. I'd always been used to considering it something that was Not Done. Particularly when it's rained as much as it has lately) and the sounds of heavy things being moved. I figured the best thing to do would be to keep my head down and hope they were moving out. Which they were doing, in the most awkward and destructive way possible. Somewhere in there they managed to destroy three windows (one of which was already cracked -- perhaps the complete destruction will induce the landlord to replace it), gouge a bit out of the wall in the vestibule, yell at the top of their lungs, and attract the attention of three police cruisers at once. Things seemed to quiet down, but to my surprise the second story remained occupied. But they've since shown up to replace the locks and asked the one remaining tenant what the hell he's still doing there.
And this morning there was an eviction notice on the door. No, not addressed to me, silly.
Practical upshot of this: I no longer have annoying neighbors, or at least will not as of tomorrow. I may get new ones at some point.