As the downstairs apartment turns

My flaky downstairs neighbor Mark is moving out...and it's partially my fault.

A long time ago (I'm talking well over six months ago), some tiles fell off the wall in my shower. No reason, they just fell off. I called the landlord right away but they didn't do anything about it. I followed up on a regular basis, and documented it, but they still didn't come fix it. Meanwhile, it wasn't affecting the operation of the shower in any way, other than being unsightly. It's not like that's the only unsightly thing you're going to see in my shower (shut up), so I really didn't worry about it much. Well, apparently the water that was hitting the untiled part of the shower wall over a long period of time (like I said, well over six months) has caused considerable ceiling and wall damage in the apartment below. To the extent that it can't be repaired while somebody is living there, so they have to move Mark to another apartment. And while I've done absolutely nothing wrong, I still feel bad. For one thing, I liked the guy. For another, moving sucks, even if you don't own any furniture whatsoever (like Mark). And lastly, I have to wonder how long it's going to sit empty again and whether or not somebody will actually care enough to lock the friggin' door this time.

However, there is an upside. When I got home today, I opened my door and was hit in the face with the overpowering smell of industrial strength glue. Like airplane glue one would use to build actual, full size, functional commercial airplanes. Wondering what the hell was going on, I went into the bathroom and saw not just five or six new tiles, but a completely brand new bathtub and shower. I don't think the picture truly does it justice, so here's a video...

I'm less than thrilled that they came into my apartment without letting me know and as a result, my cats have been huffing fumes all day. Plus, I still feel bad that my neighbor has to move out just because I have this sick fascination with bathing. On the other hand, hey, new bathtub and the opportunity to spend the rest of the day huffing with my cats.