Beautiful

Such a beautiful day outside earlier, and even now, deep into the evening, you can still stroll outside minus a coat. It was even borderline too hot for my Shabbos walk, but not quite. :) I just slowed down, which gave me an opportunity to marvel at the trees in full bloom and the insane amount of people out on Ocean Parkway. I even saw a hint of what my single friend calls the single crowd; I had thought it was a bit of a myth, but no- there they all were clustered on the benches between L & M, basking in the sunshine and enjoying their socializing.

Of course, once I got home this evening, my little bubble burst slightly. My Israeli neighbours typically have 2 dozen people over for Shabbos, which is, to use their favourite adjective, "beautiful". What's a bit less beautiful is how the said crowd uses our hallway like their private veranda. That custom coupled with the neighbours' habit of their leaving the door open for hours so the cigarette smoke and natural screaming volume wafts into my apartment is typically enough to peeve me off a bit. I mean since when did the entire building become their territory? But now, with the fantastic weather, they have added a new, seasonal custom to the mix- opening up the skylight to go up onto the roof.

Now I can tolerate the noise, cigarette smoke, and overcrowding by reminding myself that they're young and Israeli, so pushiness and space-hogging is in their DNA. But the sunbathing comes with a real hassle, namely that they neglect to close the skylight when done. As a result, bugs, birds, and all kinds of other lovelies get into the building, and then our apartments. I stopped leaving my shoes outside last year upon finding pigeon feathers by them. Enough said.

So when I returned this evening to find the skylight open, after having discussed the situation with one of the neighbours and she had agreed to close it after they were done, I was a bit disappointed. It was a royal pain last year with the additional "nature" in the apartment, and I'm not revelling a repeat, chasve shalom.

I'm beginning to think that maybe I'm officially too old for in this apartment, and may have to seek out a dwelling better suited for an old bird like myself soon, LOL.

Gut voch.