"We'll never know unless we grow, there's so much world outside the door."

[nausicaa83]

There's a new neighbour upstairs. For those of you who are new to this little saga, short version is I had a wonderful neighbour for three years after I moved here, and even after she sold the flat we remained friends. The woman who bought her flat rent it to a drug dealer (yep), then to another crazy guy, who were both incredibly noisy and used to play loud music late at night until I told them both I'd call the cops. I had a restful year with the woman's daughter coming from time to time to sleep here, and now we have a new neighbour, a old guy who so far has been the quiet, normal kind. Today he hosted his granddaughter's birthday party. It was him, the two granddaughters, and the parents, and from 11 am to 5 pm it felt like there was a long, long earthquake, of doors being slammed, furniture being moved, kids screaming and crying and shouting.

All the while I was sitting on the couch, one floor down, wearing giant headphones and playing Journey on my PS3 to relax and fight the urge to set the house on fire. When they finally left I called my aunt and talked with her for a good 45 minutes, and then had a cup of herbal tea, and now I finally feel better.

On one side, it looks like it's finally a normal guy, a grandfather, nothing weird that would have the cops ringing my doorbell for months to come asking me if I know his current residence. Yes, it has happened a lot with the drug dealer. On the other hand, around the time the two girls started using chairs as swords, I made a sacred oath to never ever have children ever. Holy shit, it was exhausting.

And now it's blissful silence all around. *________*