Adjustments, adjustments. Guess that's the word of the year for us. Even during our stay in the Holy Land (Ramallah), we did not have close neighbors. Our flat above the library at the Friends School was quiet at night, except for a few musicians who were in the flat next door occasionally. Once we moved to the upstairs of the Swift House the following year, we were alone on the property, as there were offices downstairs. My point being we did not need to be quiet just because we had neighbors.
Now that we are living on the 7th floor of a large apartment building we do, indeed, share walls and floors with others. I have been surprised how quiet the building is, and rarely hear voices or TVs, dogs barking, etc, through the walls and floors. I guess maybe that's because we are usually the ones making the noise. We have a neighbor below, an older woman, who must be getting tired of us (already)....... Yes, I'll admit the kids are noisy, can be loud and running and jumping happen inside our flat from time to time. Justin has outbursts of loud singing that go over the top for me as well.
Our flat is heated by radiators that are connected by exposed pipes (they are painted white to match). Now I know that the pipes also are connected throughout the building! Our neighbor is clanging on the pipes when she is annoyed with our noise. I don't know how long she has been doing this, but I just made the connection yesterday. It happened again tonight and now we are certain that this is a request for us to be quiet. I'm trying to be courteous and explain the shared wall and floor idea to our kids, but I can't help but begin humming the oldie sung by Tony Orlando & Dawn - Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me, twice on the pipe if the answer is no......... So it ends up making me smile. Maybe we can get her to smile someday when she gets to know us better.
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