I like the cold for a variety of reasons. It gives respite from the humidity which seems to be increasingly present during the year. A big tick in its favour though is when it’s cold I shut my balcony door. I like fresh air so a preference will be to leave it open and turn a fan on when it’s warmer rather than resort to air-conditioning.

I live in an apartment building and there are other apartment buildings nearby so there’s often some sort of noise. Closing the balcony door blocks most of it and I can watch the tv at a normal volume. When it gets warmer I face the conundrum of either keeping it closed or opening it up and cranking the volume.

Weekends are the worst with an assortment of parties or even just people out on their balconies with friends having loud conversations. The concrete surrounding us definitely increases the noise, bouncing it off buildings and making it hard to work out where it’s coming from. Unless you can see a party on a balcony the culprit will often escape detection. As the nights become warmer there are more people out on balconies and so it goes on.

The warmer weather we’ve started to have lately as we move into Spring means my balcony door is open and the noise has started spilling in. The guy who thinks he can sing is a particular joy. Generally on a Friday night he starts belting out along with whatever music he is playing. Someone needs to take him aside and explain volume does not equal quality. The good thing though is he never goes later than 8:00pm. I’m not sure if he has his own self-imposed time limit or if it’s simply when he passes out asleep on the couch from the alcohol which has been fuelling his lyrics. Maybe a bit of both.

It’s all part of being in close proximity to others when you live in an apartment building surrounded by other apartment buildings. Generally I like the sounds of the city. Sometimes though, as we progress into summer and the humidity, I will begin to long for the cold. Being able to close out the world and cocoon in a warm space with no external noise creeping in. A pleasure to anticipate and look forward to as I contemplate how many layers of clothing I can leave off without the neighbours complaining about the weird guy wandering around exposing himself in his apartment.