Love thy neighbour

Living in an apartment block has many advantages. There’s security, a garden service and friendly neighbours in every direction when you need to borrow a cup of sugar. But there are also distinct disadvantages, one of which is the close proximity of your neighbours…in particular, the close proximity of your bathroom window to that of your neighbours. I often picture my neighbor in his bathroom, sitting on the bog…mere meters from me while I brush my teeth. Our bathroom windows are so close that if I leant out of mine, I could probably see into his. This doesn’t bode well for either of us…because humans need privacy in a bathroom, a luxury neither of us have anymore.


I have grown quite accustomed to his routine, however. I know that my neighbor has fairly good oral hygiene. I know he brushes his teeth (probably a little too violently judging by the amount of scrubbing and brushing I can hear in the mornings) and I know he uses mouthwash – which is more than I can say for myself. I know that he takes baths and very occasionally showers (which is quite bizarre for a man) and that he is in there A LOT. I also know my neighbor lives with his wife/girlfriend because they have conversations through the bathroom door which I have the ‘pleasure’ of listening in to.

What is scary to accept is that my neighbours can probably hear everything that my housemates and I do during our own ‘quality bathroom time’. This was confirmed when we were Cc’d in an email from our neighbour to a glass fitter, requesting a special tint on their bathroom window which would make it less transparent. In the email, the question about whether this glazing would make the window more sound proof was also raised with a comment below it that made me chuckle. It stated, “Will the glazing assist in sound proofing our bathroom because this morning I could hear my neighbor sneeze?”

I think most people would agree that stage fright in the bathroom is a very serious problem when you think that someone could be listening in on you. So imagine what it’s like when you KNOW people are listening in on you.