Unlike other apartments in this large building, mine doesn't face directly onto a major thoroughfare. Still, it's close enough to provide plenty of city sounds. I know from city sounds.
One of my New York City apartments was across from a mob-owned restaurant and next to a honkin' huge house for "wayward women." (Note: this was the most politically correct term at the time.) It was not at all unusual to hear screaming as well as the sound of shattering glass during the night -- even with windows closed. My floor-through apartment (with a skylight and no heat during the winter) was situated between 1st and Avenue A. Need I say more? I probably do because this New York City reference probably means nothing to anyone under the age of 52.
On a recent visit to Gotham, I was horrified to discover the old 'hood had gone completely upscale. The bodega on the corner was now a major minimalist sushi cafe. The restaurant was still there sans wise guys on the curb. The halfway house had been turned into ritzy condos. To make matters more distressing, I felt perfectly safe walking along Avenue A; this scared me.
Back to the current situation in Baltimore...
I quickly learned to keep a stash of earplugs
in my bedside table. Lucky me, the unrelenting and high decibel pulse of the entire building's air-conditioner condenser right outside my window. So is the loading dock that moving vans and garbage trucks back into with their piercing backing-up beeps. I also get to hear first responders racing down North Charles. Ambulances. Police cars. Baltimore Fire Department* trucks. Sirens blaring. Am I complaining? Not really.** I'm happy to be back in a city thrumming with the sounds of lots of life happening. But only during the day. At night, I wedge super-duper plugs
into my ears.Love the sounds. Don't miss the screaming.
* I do so love that the initials are: BFD.
** That's a semi-lie. I hate hearing the condenser and am forever trying to get BGE to do something about the brutal hum of the transformer.
