Hot hot hot

"You don't know me that well. My mad face and my happy face are the same."

All's good in the hood

There are times when I'm so freaked out about everything it overwhelms me. But then all I want to do is go home and be safe from all that. My place is a safe house. It's the anchor I need when I feel like I'm drifting. And although people keep telling me how my neighborhood freaks them out, is too far or too poor, I love living here. A lot. My parents live on a middle class street and growing up there I used to think the same about the area I live in now. But then a weird string of events resulted in me attending school nearby for two years. That's when I learned the talk about street gangs was all bogus. And that a marginal public school can offer good education with the right teachers and colleagues.
I now live in the most densely populated area of my city. But apart from an occasional lover's quarrel in the apartment from the fourth floor (they moved out anyway), it's the most quiet area I've lived in. In the summer I can hear the crickets by night and in the winter I can smell the oak underneath the snow. I live a couple of minutes from the forest. It's a great area to live if you have a dog. There's dozens of them playing in the grass every evening. And it's a nice place for children too, if you can't afford a house. There's sports fields and a park every hundred meters and I'm always surprised how many little people there are around here. People jog, hike, bike or motorbike around here. They go for picnics and they gather in the block's garden for a chat. There's nothing fancy about it, but it's home because it's so cozy. My cat is especially excited about the birdies living under our roof and nesting in our trees.
I've wanted to write about this for a long time. I want to remember the days I enjoyed here in case I move away, which is a thing I've started to consider, but it's still a long way ahead. Right now it's super hot outside and in here the temperature is 10 Celsius degrees lower. I can hear the turtledoves and some very distant voices of kids playing. No cars, no smoke, no crappy music. It's bliss enough for me.