The neighbors downstairs have moved out.
They only lived here a couple of months, a Somali couple, I met them once when the power repeatedly went out and back on, I could hear the clicking of the fuse back and forth, went downstairs to see what was up, he was in a rage, apparently the fuse would switch off whenever he tried to cook food and work on the computer.
He was going to move out, couldn't stand living in the basement, couldn't live like that, unable to cook and work on the computer at the same time, he'd be gone at the end of the month...
I find that Middle Eastern people are frequently like that, taking offense at trifles and yet somehow ignoring really big things; it was the details that annoy them, imagined slights or insults in the wiring of the house.
I wasn't home enough to notice them, not much, sometimes you'd hear their music, curious and haunting, had they stayed I might have inquired what they were listening to. And everyday when I'd return from work there would be the smell of their cooking, delicious, and while I'd been fed at work it would make me hungry and want to eat again...the sound of children (heard but never seen), parties of taxi drivers gathering in the basement.
Now the flat is empty again, and I wonder who the next tenant will be. Were there any chance of the landlords listening I'd have some suggestions.