Balcony Life

Here it is the middle of summer and yes, we have been enjoying the hotter days and evenings sitting on our balcony. It is always nice to be able to find that bit of time each day to sit and relax. Our balcony is a place where we can sit and enjoy a nice dinner as well because we have it set up in a way that the two of us can enjoy a meal.

Our balcony is also a place that we can pull out our computers and sit and work on those days when you just don't want to be inside anymore. Knowing that we can sit, and work here is something that has been important to us, as it makes meeting deadlines a little easier when focusing inside just isn't working.

Something that we have been doing for the last few years is growing flowers and even vegetables on our balcony. We started with tomatoes a few years ago, but that didn't work out too well, as the cherry tomatoes liked escaping just when they were ready to be picked and enjoyed. I think people below us wondering where all the tomatoes were coming from. Our superintendent at the time made a comment about how he was finding cherry tomatoes on his patio, and I laughed and said those were the escape artists from our balcony.

During the lock-down, we did try and get some flowers so that we could at least have something on the balcony for when we were stuck at home and not able to go out and about. Those flowers did work out pretty well, even through we were late getting them, so didn't get to enjoy the total beauty of the flowers that year.

For the last couple of years, we have been having some fun and that was adding vegetables back into the mix of what we are growing on our balcony. Last year we grew tomatoes and peppers, yes, some cherry tomatoes, but I kept a better eye on them, and we put up some netting along the edge of the balcony to try and catch the escape artists. The only thing about the tomatoes last year were try grew really well, and we ended up having a hedge on the edge of the balcony. Also, when it out extremely windy, the tomatoes plants sometimes wanted to fall over, so that also didn't help. The peppers did work out pretty well last year, and we had some sweet peppers that we were able to enjoy near the end of the season.

This year, what we decided was we were only going to grow peppers as well as some flowers, and I think it is working out so much better. We may not get as many vegetables from the balcony, but we are still enjoying it. We currently have one pepper that is getting very close to being picked, and then there are some peppers that are currently growing on some of the other plants.

Our balcony is our escape during those hot summer evenings, and it gives us a place where we can take care of our flowers and have the place where we can relax. The view from the balcony is pretty good as we can watch planes, and we can also watch what is going on in our own neighbourhood.

Don't be afraid to try and grow something on your balcony if you have one. Not everything is going to work out, but it is still fun seeing what grows and what doesn't grow. You may even be surprised what flowers return the coming year that aren't perennials. Enjoy your balcony when you can because it gives you that outdoor area without having to be around people.


 

Pet peeves

I have decided that it is time for me to write about a couple of my pet peeves that I have been seeing while living in an apartment building.  Of course, there are a number of pet peeves that I could write about but I am going to focus on two of them for this blog entry.

Air conditioners

Air conditioner installed wrong

One of the issues that is starting to really bother me is the number of air conditioners that are incorrectly installed.  I have so far too many air conditioners just put into a window and then left just like that.  The picture is showing one such installation where the air conditioner is put into the window but the window is left wide open therefore not providing some support to the side of the unit.  Actually in this case it looks like there may be a little bit of support at the top of the air conditioner but that is it.  Imagine if someone banged this unit, I have a feeling it would probably fall out of the window without too much of an issue.

If this unit was to fall out of the window it would fall around 19 floors to the ground if it is unplugged or if it is plugged in it would dangle for a while until the weight of the air conditioner either pulled the plug or the cord broke.  In either case the air conditioner would again fall and possibly hurt someone on the ground.

Another issue with the window not being closed is this is an ideal spot for a child to decide to look out the open window again possibly causing some issues.  Now we have a spot where the child could fall out the window themselves or bang the air conditioner and both the child and air conditioner falling out.

So many people don't think the entire installation through when they are putting the air conditioning unit in the window.  If you want the room to cool down you need to be preventing the warm air from coming in.  You also need to ensure that the air conditioner is properly installed for the safety of others around you.

Rug hung off balcony

Items hanging off balcony railings

Another thing that we quite often see is items such as rugs, blankets or sheets being hung off the balcony railing. In some cases the item is just a little bit over the railing and it isn't interfering with anyone else.

Now there are cases such as in the picture where the rug is hanging and interfering with the people that live belong. This is going to possibly cause some problems because I know that I wouldn't want something hanging in front of my balcony.

The people in the until below can do a few different things and it would really depend on the people.  I know that I would be pretty upset and would either contact my Property Management and let them know that there was something hanging from a balcony above and it was interfering with my enjoyment of my own balcony or I would go upstairs and see if I could nicely talk to the tenants and let them know that their rug, etc was bothering me.  In the case of our building, there is a rule that nothing can be hung over the railing so it would be best if I contacted the Property Management/Superintendent to resolve the issue.

There are probably some other people who would say just to say nothing because each tenant has the right to use their balcony their way.  There is also another group of people, as I know I have thought about it and it would be the people that would just pull on the item and let it fall to the ground or then there is the group that would damage the item because it is interfering with their enjoyment of their own unit.

View point
I understand that there are a lot of different views on what is right and what is wrong with both of these issues that I have shown here.  Both of these issues are things that bother me and thankfully do not happen in our building.  These are both pictures that were taken from our own balcony when we were enjoying it. Of course, if you don't or have never lived in an apartment or condo building you wouldn't have encountered either of these issues.

Everyone has things that bother them and these are just two of the things that I have seen while sitting on our balcony that  either bother me or concern me.  The incorrectly installed air conditioner concerns me because I can concerned about someone getting injured if the unit was to fall out of the window.  The rug or item hanging from the balcony railing bothers me because it is showing a lack of respect to others around you.

If you do live in a highrise remember that there are others around you and what you do could either bother someone else or endanger them.