my new flat

I awakened my first morning in my new flat to discover that my room was interior! If you know Barcelona, you understand the significance. If you do not, well, Barcelona is an extremely noisy city. It's very common for people to be unable to sleep at all for the first week or two here, after which they collapse unconscious from exhaustion. To have an interior room means to have a bit of peace. You can still hear the sirens, and hum of cars but are unlikely to be driven to kill because of the loud motos (city motorcycles) echoing off of your walls and your brain.

Last month I stayed in my friend Tony's flat. He had just purchased said flat and as such, it was just me, my sleeping mat and my suitcase in an empty flat. No hot water, no refridgerator or cooking (no gas), just me and my stuff. It was wonderful, so peaceful...until the second week when the workers began working and fighting.

The building is having some work done on the front and on the roof, and it begins every morning at about 8am. The first morning the workers were in a full rage. I heard yelling, blows and encouragement to the fighters. This was all on the roof directly above me. I had only just crawled into bed around 6am. Then the machinery and the hammers and picks and...shudder. I got up and showered in the frigid water, and fled the house by 11am.

That week was the worst. I'm not tired at night. I want to sleep in the morning. As a result I didn't sleep more than two hours a night all week. Some days I managed another 1-2 hours at lunch time when they went on break.

Oh. I hated them. I swore at them as I washed my face, hair and teeth and fled the house daily to escape the noise that surrounded me.

Last week they didn't fight or work very much (mostly they just stood around looking like they had just stopped what they were doing), so I had some respite. Of course, it was nothing compared to waking that first glorious morning in a bed looking out over all the interior terraces of the block! It's amazing to see, like an inner sanctum of the habitants of Barcelona. Each unknown to the other and all sharing this oasis of peace in the sea of noise.