Life As Performance Art 17

I am reminded, frequently, of what I do not like about where I live. Primarily it is the location, on downtown Granville Street, on the scuzzy end by the Granville Bridge, and the dysfunctional neighbours in Granville Residence, whom right now are playing their music or radio at an unacceptable volume, even with my window closed, it is not yet 7 am and so I have to wear earplugs, once again. I did mention already that I feel like a hostage living here, because there are no options. Even though I work for a living, I am stuck at a low wage and moving is not an option because I live in subsidized housing and any place like my apartment in a market rental would start at well over 1,000 a month. Right now, I pay less than one fourth of that sum. Plus, I can save money and travel every year on my scant earnings. Everything else about where I live is okay, for which reason I will simply wear earplugs, and if the noise continues for a while, phone the staff at Granville Residence to complain. Except for the odd idiot, most of them are pretty supportive..........It's an hour later, I've had my breakfast, the usual two soft boiled eggs, two slices of toasted homemade whole wheat spread with natural peanut butter and apricot jam, and a slice of rather tart Gruyere cheese. Yummy! And now, no noise from next door, and the good news is it seldom lasts very long, maybe because my neighbours with all their many issues have the attention span of a squirrel, but it is much nicer now, and once again, I love my little apartment. Speaking of squirrels, on Good Friday I saw an interesting interspecies interaction. I was walking to church for the morning Good Friday service and on the calm pavement of Angus Drive there were a crow and a little black squirrel having a turf standoff. Both were foraging for something to eat, and every time the crow got too close the squirrel chased him off. That little rodent ruled and he had no trouble at all keeping the big black bird in line. This is particularly amusing given how crows spare no quarter to adversaries many times their size, including humans walking under their nests in May and June. I tend to get on well with crows, given that I sometimes feed them, especially in the spring, so that they will leave alone should I come anywhere near their precious little ones. I actually learned this tactic years ago while walking in the woods. I came across a fledgling crow looking up at me from the trail. His parents were understandably freaking out from overhead. Instinctively, I picked a ripe salmonberry and dropped it in the young crow's mouth, then gave him a couple more. His parents calmed right down, and the next couple of days I walked there, I would feed their little junior more salmonberries and mommy and daddy stayed quiet, calm, chill and happy. Right now there are a couple of crows in the Angus Drive area who seem to have adopted me, and often one or both of them will accompany and fly and walk with me for several blocks. Yes, they expect to be fed, but their body language also suggests that they have become rather fond of me, so it's kind of nice having them around, especially given that even if I go several times without feeding them, they still seem to want to hang out with me. I guess I could try to be as kind to humans, even if they happen to be my neighbours!