When Molly and I lived in our one bedroom apartment last year, I rarely heard anything from our neighbours. Sure, there was the odd thing dropped on the floor upstairs, or the occasional muffled sex cry from one of the girls in the apartment to the north, but other than that, it was pretty quiet. In this building, the walls are made of concrete, which is quite nice for containing sound. In the one bedroom apartment, I could blast my music or play games really loudly until 1am and not have to worry about anyone complaining.

Ever since moving into this two bedroom apartment, I’ve noticed that either sound carries a lot easier, or the neighbours are a LOT louder. Upstairs, there must be a family with at least a kid or two, as they are constantly running around, yelling, stomping their feet, and doing what kids to. Below us, now, that is a different story.

There is a couple living below us, and I think one of them is a DJ, as they are constantly blasting their music. It’s not so bad, as I can only really hear the bass beats, and they are usually playing either house or techno, so it doesn’t matter to me; I happen to like either. However, I think the guy might be a little off-kilter. He is constantly screaming at the top of his lungs about trivial things, and once in a while will get into a shouting match with his girlfriend. It’s actually kind of like listening to a soap opera, and since I don’t have TV anymore (I canceled it as I was never watching it, so there is no sense paying for it), I find it quite entertaining.

Previous episode plots from “The Neighbours Below”:

• The dude is high on something, angry and upset, and he cannot find his winter jacket which he needs for tomorrow as it is going to be freezing outside. He frequently begs his girlfriend to help him find his jacket, or make him one out of some scraps of material they have.
• The dude and the girl are shouting at each other for some reason (I tuned in too late), and he rants and raves how she has ruined his life, and that he is constantly doing things for other people and just needs an hour or two to himself.
• The dude is yelling and screaming about how tickets were there two minutes ago, but now they have quadrupled in price, and frequently shouts “WHO THE FUCK DOES THIS??!! FUCK!!!”. Occasionally rants about how they should have gotten up earlier, and then starts pounding his desk.

When we first moved into this apartment, we heard some yelling from below, but thought it was our fault and a one-time thing. We were setting up Molly’s desk in the Nerdlab on Saturday morning, and we figured we would wait until after 10:30am to do so. It’s a weekend, and generally you should be allowed to sleep in, so we were thinking of our neighbours. It was almost 11am, and we were almost done with the desk (just a tiny bit of hammering) when we heard a shout from below: “FUCK!!!”. We paused, wondering if that was directed to us or just someone smashing their toe against a table or something, and after a few minutes, continued. Shortly afterwards, we heard shouting again from below: “FUCK!!! IT’S 11AM!!!”. Molly and I looked at each other and snickered, as we were *almost* done. Instead of hammering the last piece home, I just shoved it in (hey, that sounds pretty rude, but not intentional). With the desk done, we attempted to quietly pick it up and put it into place, but there were a few bangs on the floor. Thankfully, we weren’t shouted at again. However, once in a while when we make a loud sound, like accidentally drop something, we’ll look at the other and quietly yell “FUCK!!! IT’S (whatever time it is)!!!”. Too funny.

It might be fun to blog about their shouting matches below, or rather, just when he flies off the handle. Some of you might be thinking this is a breach of their privacy on my part, but I’m of the belief that if they are going to scream and yell, they obviously want to be heard.