So today I got inspired and started some much needed organising. I was working on hammering in some nails in the back of my wardrobe for better organisation of some things. It proved much harder that I anticipated to get those little nails in there. Now we live in a semi-detached house which means that the wall directly behind my wardrobe is my neighbour’s house. So here I am hammering away on third nail with grand hopes of acheiving about five more after that when I hear a dull – “thump thump thump.” I think, oh well maybe the neighbours are also doing a project (they’ve been known to hammer a think or two). So I start again only to hear it lounder, “thump, Thump, THUMP.”

Now I know it is the neighbour. And they are saying, “knock it off.” 

Being the nice person who cares about what others think, I stop hammering.

Being the nice person who cares about what others think, I get frustrated privately on my side of our shared wall. After all, it’s my house (ok we rent, but so do the neighbours) After all, it’s a fine time in the afternoon.  After all, I should be able to do what I want right?! 

So, with my momentum ruined and a bad attitude I packed up my project for the day (with a few thoughts of rebelling and just hammering away all day).

Even though we’ve been living in semi-d’s for 5 years now, the notion of considering the neighbours is still something newer to my mind. I grew up in a place where houses are seldom attached, now I live in a place where people are often only feet apart yet in totally separate dwellings and possibly don’t know each other really at all (besides what they hear through the walls).

So even though I think it’s within my reasonable thoughts to keep hammering away I also think that despite my bad attitude it’s also quite reasonable to alter my plans for the consideration of someone I live so near to yet barely know (and who is possibly upset about all the noise!) Hopefully doing this, or not doing in this instance made someones day a bit more pleasant (and definitely a bit quieter)!

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