The High Life

Living in a second floor flat definitely has some downsides. We don't have an entryphone, so when the doorbell rings we have to run like mad down three flights of stairs to see who is at the door. Sometimes delivery people assume we aren't in and give up. This is somewhat annoying. Sometimes callers are incredibly persistent and decide to keep ringing the bell. I wish they wouldn't - it doesn't make me run any faster and it's really loud and annoying. In fact it makes me shout out things like "I'm on my way" loudly as I belt down the stairs, further confirming the views of all the neighbours that I am quite insane. Having to carry the washing downstairs and out to our bit of garden to hang it out can be a bit of a pain, too. These things are pretty trivial, though. There are a lot of compensations that more than make up for them.

The view of the sunset over the town from here can be spectacular, as can the sunrise. Planes seem to congregate, waiting to land at a nearby airport, and there's a kind of romantic nature to their flight against a dawn backdrop. At the beginning of the month we saw fireworks from all angles for free - no standing outside in the cold or forking out extortionate amounts to get into any of the big local displays for us! We also have good aerial views of the kamikaze squirrels that leap from tree to tree in the gardens below. Best of all, being so high up is really good for spying on the world below. A woman walks a multitude of greyhounds most days as I'm making my breakfast. One day it was raining and they were all wearing little coloured raincoats. They were so cute it made my day. Slightly more evil thoughts can be provoked by all this high-rise living, too, though. There is a perverse pleasure in spotting from above a crafty comb-over that would have passed for normal hair from below. I know who's bald and doesn't want to show it. Truly, I have the power.