Would You Like to Live in This House?

I fell in love with the interior decorations of the house as soon as I stepped in. The living room, kitchen and bathroom have tiled floors. The kitchen has cabinets built on the walls and under the sink. A door opens to a small balcony with a fantastic view to a river where school going kids swim all weekend. I paid the rent and moved in the next day. My weekend was peaceful as I unpacked my stuff, the only problem I experienced was loud banging sounds from the iron sheet roofing that kept interrupting my sleep.

I was so excited on Monday to begin my work, when I sat in the living room I could hear people talking on the other side of the wall. The walls are so thin that I could hear their conversation clearly. I was in shock I had moved into this house for some quite as I write. That was just the beginning of a series of many agonizing moments; I discovered that my next door neighbors were a young couple. When they went to the kitchen to cook I could hear pots banging as if it was happening in my kitchen. I could hear them talk when they are in their bedroom as I take a shower in the bathroom on the furthest side of my house.

The electricity supply disconnects regularly in this house for no apparent reason; therefore I must have airtime in my mobile phone to call the caretaker to switch it back on. I do not know if the instant water heater works as there is no water in the bathroom; I carry water in a pail to flash the toilet and use a basin to take a shower. Smoke fills my bedroom every evening from burning garbage near the river; I can smell it on my bedding from time to time.

These two houses share a balcony; the door that opens to the balcony is made of metal. My next door neighbors like opening and closing the door throughout the day; it makes a banging sound interrupting me when I am working in my bedroom. They wake me up very early in the morning when they open that door. My downstairs neighbor uses a charcoal stove (Jiko) to make her meals; when she lights it, it produces a lot of smoke that gathers in my bedroom making it difficult for me to breathe.

I still don’t understand how doves got under the ceiling above my bedroom flapping around early in the morning waking me up when my neighbors don’t. My neighbors must also hear me when I pray in the morning and watch TV before going to bed. This living arrangement is not healthy; the other day the man in that house was insulting me from the comfort of his kitchen. I let it pass as he must be so frustrated knowing there is someone who can hear his every move. 

I have made a decision to move out in the next two months; I wear earplugs when I sleep and all day as I work. My downstairs neighbors bang on her bedroom door with so much force that my bedroom door keeps opening. What broke the camel’s back? It started raining on Saturday evening, water started dripping in right where I was seated. When I went out to the shop, the river had flooded soaking my boots as I wandered in; I had to rush back in case the path was swallowed by the river. 

 

Would you like to move into this house when I vacate?