Disturbing the peace

Nov 01, 2020 01:07

When the big kids were very small we had a third-floor apartment in Riverdale. The people below us had chow dogs and low noise tolerance. The woman used to complain to us and the landlord about the noise from our apartment. "Missy is PREGNANT! The stress is bad for her!" I'm pretending I remember that dog's name but I really don't. I distinctly remember carpeting everything, chocking the rocking chair, inventing places to be on weekend days, and cringing every time someone knocked on the door. One night I heard knocking and I decided to ignore it; however, it started again after a half-hour or so and grew more insistent. Then the knocker identified himself as a police officer. The woman downstairs had reported there were children left alone in the apartment. Of course I unloaded on the hapless responders about the relentless harassment from downstairs. It was no fun living there. After a couple of long years we found a house to buy.

We lived there for ten years in one half of a duplex. In the other half was a family with older kids, high-schoolers when we moved in. The grown-ups seemed older, maybe they were the grandparents. They were never unfriendly, but we never did anything more neighborly than wave to each other occasionally. We had been there a pretty long time, at least five years, when I was at home by myself one day and heard someone next door walk up the stairs. I was surprised by how noticeable it was. Then I started thinking about how our family was never particularly quiet and how saintly that family was to put up with us. Or maybe they were all hard of hearing, but it was so nice to leave the misery of living above the chow owners that I've since aimed to be a person who will not be bothered by the din of people living their lives. My need for forbearance has been mitigated somewhat by the advent of noise canceling headphones.

Here are the links I won't get to this weekend but I would like to read them eventually. Working at the early voting centers has bulldozed this week for me.

Movie and TV Show plot twists (I rarely avoid spoilers since there is a very small chance I will ever watch the show anyway) https://www.theringer.com/movies/2020/10/20/21523663/movie-tv-twists-ranked-ranking

Massachusetts Avenue https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/massachusetts-avenue-users-guide/2020/10/28/f37042fa-0d6e-11eb-8074-0e943a91bf08_story.html

Haunted house https://www.fodors.com/world/north-america/usa/new-york/new-york-city/experiences/news/what-are-new-yorks-most-sought-after-ghosts-getting-up-to-without-visitors

Pandemic-inspired cult https://www.fodors.com/world/europe/england/london/experiences/news/the-cult-born-of-pandemic-that-hid-beneath-london

Green community design https://www.treehugger.com/how-design-green-community-5084147

Lydell Grant https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/dna-evidence-proved-lydell-grants-innocence/

McRib https://www.theawl.com/2011/11/a-conspiracy-of-hogs-the-mcrib-as-arbitrage/
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