Squeak, Squeak, Squeak

Thursday, August 5, 2010

We just returned from a two day trip to London which will be its own blog entry at some point, but I wanted to share a peculiarity of life in our Pairs apartment. We stayed in a nice Marriott hotel in London (yeah for Priceline!) and enjoyed the very comfortable beds but also greatly appreciated a floor that is: 1) carpeted and 2) does not squeak. It is amazing how the small things in life become more appreciated when you don’t have them. We truly are enjoying our apartment (Steve may be of a different opinion when he has to climb the 5 flights of stairs at the end of a long day), but the floor squeaks with almost every step you take. This may be much more a problem for our neighbors below (whom we have not seen or heard at all), but it is an interesting experience for us. Steve observed that there have probably been a lot of remodeling, changing walls, repartitioning rooms, etc. in this building since it was first constructed, but maybe the floors have not changed at all! As a matter of fact, if you look at the paining by Monet called “A Corner of the Apartment” you will see the exact same kind of floor we have. (Here is a link so you can take a look http://www.paintinghere.com/painting/A_Corner_of_the_Apartment_2331.html)/ As we were touring the Orsay Museum and saw this beautiful painting, the ever-observant Kara looked at it and made the comment that the floors were the same as ours! The wooden planks are laid diagonally in most of the apartment and give a squeak every time you take a step. Heather got up the other morning and asked if I had heard her activities because she had been trying to step lightly enough to not make the floor squeak. Even the lightweight of our family didn’t manage any stealth because I was able to tell her exactly where she had been!

Being able to appreciate flooring is not a new experience for me however. I still vividly remember the first morning home after serving a mission in Paraguay for 18 months when I swung my feet out of bed and felt the soft, warm, cushiness of a carpeted floor. It was a moment of pure pleasure. Do your floors squeak?

A bientot,

Terri