I just yelled “hey, on a des cours en ligne, enlève la music ou baise la volume” out of my window hoping the construction workers blasting the radio outside would hear me. They didn’t. At least I have wifi now.
When Videotron finally came to install the wifi, I had to move around all my furniture because apparently there is a specific cable wire that the router needs to be plugged into and my wonderful credenza was in the way. Now it’s three inches off the wall, because the cable is that rigid. My partner and I are considering making a hole in the back of the unit, feeding the wire through and back out underneath. We’ll see if that actually happens.
The past two weeks have been a jumble of spending too much time outside with inappropriate clothing for the recent chilly weather, worrying about having COVID, not having COVID, seeing friends I haven’t seen in months, attending lots of art shows, shopping for prints to decorate our bare walls and plants to decorate our windowsill. Oh, and I can’t forget the ridiculously long fire alarm test last week that burst my eardrums.
As the construction worker’s French radio starts to grow on me, my concerns for my HelloFresh meal kit delivery grows.
Recently, packages have been going missing at The Woodnote. Tenants think people from the street are walking in and stealing them or that they are straight up not being delivered. The building’s postal code was updated in early September, but it has not yet been recognized by Canada Post, nor have mail boxes been installed; so the situation is super precarious right now. Yesterday, according to The Woodnote’s Facebook group chat, a homeless man was spotted vaping in the mezzanine.
The temptation to create one of those “things in my Montreal studio apartment that just make sense” TikToks is enticing. Directly in front of one of our kitchen cupboards is a hanging light. Why is it there? It’s impossible to open the cupboard without hitting the light. Can I ask for it to be removed? And to whoever’s job it is to fix these kinds of things, while you’re at it, this piece of green tape on my window marking a chip in the plastic also needed to be fixed before I moved in. Also, my dad thinks my fridge doors should be reversed. But I’m too stressed to ask because we made too many holes in the walls and I don’t want to get in trouble. Yes, we’ll patch them, and yes, I’m overexaggerating.
At first, the Facebook chat was super chaotic and awful. But as the weeks go by, I’m glad it exists. Tenants are sharing printers, moving each others’ packages to safety, giving tips and tricks on how to stop your smoke detector from going off when you’re cooking, and how, or what, to bring to the property manager’s attention. I’m grateful for such a community that’s there when I need them, but also a mute button away when I just don’t want to hear about it.
The building’s laundry machine system is kind of a scam, mirrors have fallen off walls, dents have been made, and strange ladies (potentially reporters) wait outside to ask tenants about the new cool co-op building. It’s not all bad though, I really love my little apartment and concrete view. It keeps me focused on school and work instead of distracted by the blue skies. I actually feel productive! I’m not kidding!
All in all, I think the building has good bones, but there is still so much work to be done.
Photos by Christine Beaudoin
