Green yards my ass

When I was shopping for this apartment, I ran into a lot of advertisements for the apartments with windows onto some green and peaceful yard.

Leaving aside the issue of greenery and absence thereof in the yards of downtown and near-downtown Helsinki, I figured I don't need any of that, certainly not if it costs more than windows onto the street. I grew up with windows onto busy streets, and I am not bothered by the noise, or fond of greenery.

Well, I bought a place with windows onto the yard anyway, because I liked it and it was fairly cheap. The yard has never seen anything green, but that's OK.

It's the "quiet" part that sucks. The street noise is just street noise. In a yard completely encircled by apartment buildings all the sounds get amplified. Really amplified. You really get to know when your neighbors are repairing something, even if they live in the building across the yard.

And now the fuckers are repairing the whole facade. Early in the morning, every weekday.