AMBIENT NOISE

Ambient noise {the noise related to the immediate surroundings of something like in music, the electronic having no vocals or persistent beat, used to create atmosphere. Notice I did not say ambience because what I am going to discuss here lacks character which, of course, ambience has. The noise I am talking about comes from the floor beneath me. In fact one floor down in a three story apartment building known for its quietness. This place I decided to habituate last November has been a place of quiet which I sorely needed. That quiet has been compromised to the point I can not think, nor can I write without diminished thoughts, thoughts I need to get from my head onto paper!

This all began less than a month ago when new neighbors moved into the unit directly below me. They have two young children whom I consider adorable, active and noisy but adorable and apparently and unfortunately without restrictions when inside their apartment unit. As adorable as they are they are also accomplished trampoline and flying trapeze artists as my wall shake as they run, jump and hang off the furniture. This begins every morning a little after six and ends right before bedtime around eight thirty to nine in the evening. A full day of fun for them but a full day of that ambient noise for me. I might add here that the weather is nice enough for outside play but I never see them outside. The children aren't bad enough added to the mix of noise is their father who is about as loud and verbally obnoxious as a drunken sailor on shore leave trying to impress his buddies but failing one hundred percent. His language is dismal at best and lacks intelligence on any level. He yells at the children and his wife saving all the good words for his wife or course, like bitch and whore. I know this because he is so loud that I can hear every word coming from the floor below me. I know other neighbors have mentioned this to the landlord as have I but thus far the bumping and loudness is yet to fade away to a not so fond memory.

I am waiting for that moment of quietness so I can clearly think and the words inside my head can make it all the way to the paper on which they were intended to land.