There have been gurgling and clunking sounds above our flat almost since we arrived. A few weeks ago, Marie met a girl in the stairwell who was on her way to work at a printers in the flat above ours. The noises suddenly became clear, but how could the landlord let his residential flats be used for noisy business. Especially when that noise runs mostly at nights and on weekends?
It never bothered me much, but it keeps Marie awake and that does bother me. After checking with a few people, all the locals agreed with me that it was against the law to use residential flats this way and I decided to complain to the landlord. It wasn’t a conversation I was looking forward to, however. After complaining about the lack of hot water, the lack of water, the lack of useful sockets and the cutting of our fuel pipe, our relationship is getting strained.
Perhaps it was the worrying about this that kept me awake most of the night, listening to the clunks and gurgles. Eventually I decided to get up and confront the printing staff. Surely they could find business places in town for the same price. Or run the printing during the day. But as I made my way upstairs, it became clear that no one was there. The lights were off and the sound wasn’t coming from that flat.
Instead, I followed the sound to a hatch leading into the roof where the water tank would be. Our noises are the pump pulling water into the tank. Somehow, I feel the conversation with the landlord is going to be worse if I ask for the pump to be set to run during the day, than if I ask them to get rid of the printer.
I’ll have to be culturally sensitive and ask friends if it’s normal to run the pumps at night. That or pick the lock on the hatch and change the settings myself.