Ka Boom !

Ka boom ! Ka boom ! Dum ,dum, dum !Bing and bong !
The room was shaking . The floor was rocking . That could only mean one thing ….. new neighbors . We had new neighbors in the apartment underneath us . The first thing a new neighbor does when they move into a Condo On The Seaside is to destroy all existing reminders of the last owner . They start in the bathrooms and kitchens . They ka boom down ALL tiles and fixtures . They knock down walls . They rip up marble terrazzo floor tiles as if it was a game of domino's gone berserk . Sometimes they wench doors and windows out of the walls the same way you might pull the chicken wing off the carcass of the chicken.

Then starts the reconstruction . This involves much discussion among the men . All the neighbors stop by to offer advise . Much eyeballing of the new tiles , fixtures , windows , and doors go on . Truck loads of sand , rocks , and bags of cement begin arrive to take up the already crowded parking spaces of neighbors that live in the building .No one thinks to ask the neighbors if it is alright with them . It is just assumed that we would love the opportunity to give up our parking spot that we fought over years ago to keep as ours . They don't stop there , no , they then compound these offences with a more sever one . They start the banging , hammering, pounding , bonging ,and let's not forget the all important…. BINGING ! Early in the morning , as early as 7:30 a.m. ,when all are trying to sleep on a hot summers morning . It's opera at it's finest . Shouting with many explanation marks are flying around in the air . Dust from the sand and cement dancing lightly into crooks and cranes that were never noticed before, the cleaning is endless . We have a guy , everyone one needs a guy around here , and ours comes 3 times a week to clean the stairs in the building for us . Even he throws up his hands in despair when he sees wet cement footprints on the stair he has just cleaned .

The neighbors all say to each other that thing might not work , or that cost too much, if only they had come to me for help I could have got them a better deal . The women get in on the act by saying we need to update too. Why can't we have that new toilet, that has whatever the newest thing of the moment may be, and a new kitchen too ? Men are heard grumbling through out the building that these new neighbors think they are better than everyone else with all their fancy new stuff and bad influences .

Things will be like this for weeks to come . Then one day we will wake up to the golden silence that poets write about so much . We will heave a huge sigh of relief and snuggle deeper into our pillows for a few more stolen minutes of blissful quite . Not too long after ,we will come across the new neighbor on the stairs one day and smile at one another . All is forgiven , peace reigns once again in the Condo On The Seaside .