Condo Etiquette

     

     Some adjustment is inevitable when you switch from living in a free-standing house on over an acre of land to a condo sandwiched between three other condos and topped by more above.
I’m still working on getting My Guy to realize that not everyone appreciates having hits from The Eagles waft out of our screened porch into theirs three feet away.

          We are conscientious about cleaning up after Mamie, flattening our boxes for the communal recycling bin, and closing the windows in front when we leave. (Mamie never, ever, barks except when we are away and she’s left in charge of defending the castle. As soon as I put on shoes she jumps up on the guest room bed and will sit there looking out the window until she sees me return. Anyone who passes while she’s sitting sentry will be given what-for.)

          We smile and wave when out walking, pat neighbors’ dogs, and don’t feed the wildlife living in the pond in back of us. (Unlike our neighbor, who twice a day is feeding a growing assortment of ibis, fish, turtles, cranes, and now seagulls.)

          But we’ve also learned two other valuable lessons.

Even though that strip of grass in front of each small first-floor porch (aka, the lanai) is legally “common ground”, it’s inconsiderate to use it as a short cut through the complex. Speaking as someone whose appearance when lounging on the lanai often isn’t up to visitor-grade status, I get this. (I may have scarred one or two landscape guys for life.)

When asked by your upstairs neighbors if they make too much noise, LIE.

Yes, you’ve wondered why they seem to be dismantling every pipe in their bathroom at 10:30 at night, and yes, their two seemingly angelic granddaughters have the tread of overweight flamenco dancers, but always LIE.

They’re obviously nice people if they’ve cared enough to worry about this, and what purpose would be served by asking who it is in their household that tippy-taps back and forth and back and forth and back and forth at 6:45 a.m.?