ahh the lure of living lakeside

I recently moved into a building built in 1904 across from Lake Merritt. The unit is on the first floor, it has 10 windows with most having an unobstructed view of the Lake. Its walkers, joggers, sail boats, rowing crews, and occasional gondolier.

During the search for a new place, I saw many apartments, not worth the rent asks. Many were poorly maintained, some had peculiar rental application practices, others were in neighborhood sufficiently far from mass transit hubs. Others had absentee landlords, and managers who struck me as less than reliable. As a walker, bicycler, and a mass transit/shared transit practitioner, access to transit alternatives were high in the criteria.

The one criteria seemly overlooked in the search was the noise of the street where I live. After a week of being in the new place, the noise is beginning to grate on my psyche. My apartment, faces the newly opened and beautifully restored Lake Chalet, and happens to be on a major artery that connects Downtown to residential areas surrounding the Lake.

I've tried to muffle the street noise with white noise machines, hepa filter, sound machine that mimics 8 different types of natural environmental sounds, placed tightly knitted rugs on the bedroom windows, and have worn silicone swimmers putty in my ears, yet the noise is palpable. The drawback of having all the light, and site lines is the traffic noise entering the unit as cars pass literally by and beyond. It is not simply the rumble of metal and rubber hitting pavement, but the sound wave that seems to touch my inner self. Waking at odd hours,specially when an unusually large vehicle passes is taking its toll.

I've decided to create options, first to look and relocate again after just moving no more than a week ago, secondly, to ask the landlady if a unit in the back or on a higher floor opens up so that I can make a switch. Ah, the lure of living steps from the Lake, wide open space that breaks with the urban denseness. Ah, the traffic noise and the sounds created by ton of mass with thrust is becoming a major drawback.

Since being in the new place, I have yet to have a full night's sleep.

Stay tuned as to how this plays out.