There goes the neighborhood?

It's been seventeen plus years since I bought the condo where I live. It's in a neighborhood that is euphemistically mixed. When I first moved here it took a while to get used to the street noises: kids on skateboards, gardeners blowing trash, garbage trucks beeping and backing, the drive-through at the Carl's Jr. on the corner. It took a while but I got used to it and now I rarely notice it.

The neighborhood has changed some over the years. There are more condos and there's more traffic. Motorcycles are common. Loud motorcycles. Kids have grown up and now have trucks, loud radios included, of their own. You get used to it since it happens over time and not all at once.

The thing that I'm having trouble with is the amount of police activity that's been happening.

A week or so ago the cat and I were wakened earlier than usual by some loud conversation that was taking place right below my kitchen window. I looked out the window and there were at least four squad cars parked in the street. I couldn't hear everything that was being said but it sounded like the police were questioning one of the Ho'ville denizens that sometimes frequent the boulevard a couple of miles east of here. That went on for a while and eventually everyone left. The next morning I found a broken Hennessy bottle in my driveway.

A couple of days later my downstairs neighbors had their van parked in the street and when I looked out there were a two police cars that were joined shortly by the forensic unit. I guess someone had broken into the van.

Last night, just after I hung up from an hour on the phone with my brother, I happened to look out my living room window and there was a swat team forming up and getting ready to "attack" somewhere across the street. It was interesting to watch but a bit scary since I had no idea what was going on. Still don't. They were across the street and went in through the security gate and then I couldn't see what they were doing. I didn't hear anything. Just an occasional cop coming back out to their vans and then going back in. They were all still there when I went to bed a couple of hours later. They were gone this morning.

The worst part is that I don't know how any of these incidents played out. Too many incompletes.

There are some new people moving in downstairs from me. At first I thought it was a couple of guys. Now I think it might be a young family. They've been moving it at night so I only hear them but can't see them.

But I just keep knitting on through noise and incompletes with hope and confidence that everything will work out. I'm a bit over halfway through my current shawl. I'm pretty sure I have enough yarn.