Reason number 36 not to live in a semi-underground apartment

Something I had suspected is now confirmed as fact; people throw trash into our window well. I had wanted to believe that the wind blew it in, but now I know that is not always the case. As I stood in the kitchen making dinner, a passer-by casually tossed a freshly emptied beer can past the grate and at the window. With a clink a little dribble of beer, we now have a new urban sculpture to contemplate from the kitchen. At least the windows have been recently replaced, and actually open, so we can clean it out. Before, we just had to sit miserably and wash the trash pile up like snowdrifts.

Would you, if you were a passer-by, throw your trash at the window of someone's home? I think not. In fact, if you were a decent person, you wouldn't throw trash anywhere but a trash receptacle, period. Yet people seem to enjoy flinging it about towards cozy windows without a care in the world as long as the window is partially underground. Tsk tsk.

Oh, if you want to know the other 35 reasons not to live underground, just let me know. I won't bore you with the details unless you're actually planning to move into some such place, but let me just say that the list involves rats, insects, humidity, mold, allergies, darkness, and did I say rats? (That problem has been cleared up, mind you, or we really would be out of here by now.)

For, masochists that we are, we've decided to stay in this apartment at least until the renovations are done in Barcelona. Since we've heard nothing regarding the other apartment in Brussels we had pinned our hopes on, we're going to stay put and not try to attempt moving hassles and more expensive rent at the same time as we undergo the whole double-mortgage plus demolition derby thing. Ah, home sweet home.