It’s dark enough on the landing and in the stairwell but when I returned home this week, it was like a cave because the man from the next house (not mine) bought this tiny 12sqm flat (cupboard) for his son years ago and is now doing it up in preparation for him returning to Shanghai.
I don’t mind the noise and dust of course – it’s understandable when building work is going on – but the man has grabbed all the space on the landing and has turned it into a kitchen. So now everyone in the house has to squeeze past this plywood horror in order to get home. And it seems you don’t even have to ask in order to start grabbing the public space in the house – it’s a case of first come first saved.
I have managed to get him to remove one piece of wood which is completely unnecessary, I think he didn’t to pacify me as I had complained bitterly at the land grab.
So welcome to life in old Shanghai, in the maze of lane houses, those dark, dusty, cramped places where we are all lived cheek by jowl and have to tolerate this kind of selfish behaviour.