Saturday, November 22, 2008

The man up stairs

Oh God, I know I did something horrible in my life to get the neighbor I now have. He is a true nightmare, a bastard with no remorse. I have written about him many times; it has been a year and a half of hell. Next to a bad husband, is a bad neighbor, cause you live with them both. I don't have a bad husband, in fact I don't have any husband. I only have a sick, angry, mean, rotten neighbor. He smokes, and it comes to my apt, he lifts weights and drops them on the floor startling me early morning and late night. He sweeps his patio and throws water and his debris onto my patio. He constructed his apt for 6 months and I lived with grueling noise every day. When I tell him (nicely) to stop dropping the weights on the floor he denied that it was him. I ran to his apt. one day frantically as I was expecting a guest and asked him to please stop the construction for 20 minutes. He did but I got a nasty note saying if you ever come into my apt. again unannounced I will have you hauled away for breaking and entering. Mind you his door was wide open when I entered. Unfortunately, I made one mistake, I banged into his car, no not a bad bang just a light touch but my yellow paint from my mustang appeared on the spot. There was nothing there but he called it a hit and run, reported me to the management, put in a claim and told me if I ever hit his car again, he will have me hauled off again to the police. Yes, I should have reported that one but I could hardly see anything. So this is my neighbor and I don't live in a dangerous neighborhood. I live in Miami Beach in a beautiful condo with a garden with direct access to the pool and tennis court. It is a dream come true apt and he has destroyed all of that. All suggestions are welcome!
Carol Sue Gershman

1 comment:

Whitney said...

Oh Sue, how I understand what you are going through with your upstairs nightmare neighbor. I am so fed up with the thin walls in my building, through which I hear the bass of music from speakers (even when the music itself isn't loud), and the very WORST and MOST FRUSTRATING thing is the smoke that enters my apartment. For me, it is another tenant on my floor who has no weather-stripping sealing their apartment door...so it enters the hallway and then on over into my apartment. I am not one to tell people how to live, but when it disrupts a common living area and worse, my own personal living space, I have no shame. I could go on and on about this issue but I won't. Suffice to say that I feel your pain and hope you can sell your apartment soon! One bad apple really can spoil the whole bunch, huh?

Anyway, as a Jewish woman who has also had a passionate love affair with a black man, I was drawn in to your blog. I had not previously heard of your book but think it sounds wonderful. I'm under 50 (37 to be exact) but love to read/hear/see anything that is inspiring, as your story seems to be. Kudos to you for turning a life chapter into a whole book of them. :) As an aspiring writer myself (ballet dancer/teacher by profession), I admire your motivation and proactive nature.

Ok well I've gone on enough. Best to you and I hope New York renewed your spirit...I know it always does for me as well.

Happy New Year!