The Joys of Urban Living

I live in Allston and, most of the time, I like it.  As an Allston-ian, there are certain things you have to deal with, like waking up to piles of vomit on your doorstep on Sunday mornings and fireworks being set off until the wee morning hours after the Cetlics win the NBA finals.  Despite this, I’m kinda a fan of my apartment.  I’ve come to appreciate the mouse (mice?) who I share my apartment with and look at my room’s lack of wintertime heat as a charming eccentricity.  It’s more than just being the first place I’ve lived for more than four months since going to college.  It’s cozy and convenient to all the hip spots like Our House and Spike’s. 

Ok, but let’s be serious here.  There’s been somethings lately that have suck beyond the realm of normal Allston quirks.  And I aint talking bout the mouse who ran over my foot at 1:30 am.  

1.  Early Morning Construction

 

Everyday I wake in the presence of 5-25 burly men.  7 AM on the dot, they’re digging, blasting, and pounding away at…whatever.  Best case scenario, I realise it’s pointless to try to hit the snooze button and get out of bed when I was planning on it.  Worst case scenario, my plans to sleep in on my day off are ruined.

2. Water Woes

Imagine, if you will, having no hot water for a weekend, making showering painful and sponge baths necessary.  Annoying, right?  Now imagine having NO WATER between the hours of 3 and 11 pm on a saturday.  A hot saturday when you’ve just gone out for a run and desperately want a drink of cool water or to shower before climbing into your freshly-washed sheets.  A saturday when guests have been invited over and the planned menu required water be boiled for the pasta.  A saturday in which you discovered no water means no flushing the toilet (not that you would have peed anyway, you couldn’t wash your hands).  Yes, heavenly.

3.  Crazy Neighbors

Yes, that’s cat litter on my stairs and no, I don’t know why there’s care litter on my stairs.  I do know I prefer my neighbors getting kitty litter all over the place to their other exploits (breaking the same window twice in 2 days or practicing the drums [poorly] at all hours of the day and night).

All this results in

an unwashed, unhappy urban-dweller.