Imagine it is (finally!) Sunday and you are sleeping. It's 7:30 in the morning and the alarm is turned off... when suddenly some terrible din throws you out of bed. That would be your good neighbor from upstairs or, to be more precise, the workers he hired to remodel his flat.
You see, there's thing in Ningbo called hezu. It's equivalent to the cubicle farm, but done with living space instead of office. You take the flat with only bare necessities (a toilet and a poor excuse for a shower), partition it into small cages and put twelve people in the space that was designed for three. It's popular with migrant workers and pays the mortgage (leaving a hefty profit for the owner as well) and you get to evade taxes (no written contracts!) as a bonus.
We had one of these upstairs populated by hairdressers and ladies of certain, ahem, profession. Then one sunny summer day the owner decided to marry and evicted everyone. Nightmare started shortly after that.
During the first week they tore down all the cubbyholes. With sledgehammer. Working in the morning only - I mean like 8 AM. Then they removed windows... and disappeared. Flew south for winter, I guess. As we had no such h option, our apartment was even colder than it was the previous winter. After the workers came back with the birds and installed new windows we thought our troubles were almost over... and then the drilling started.
Now, I understand that it comes with the remodeling. But the bastard who owns the place upstairs kept changing work crews and the last one... well, they work only on weekend mornings. Starting at 7:30 AM.
So being roused from my bed I naturally went to complain and suggest they work on weekdays or at least start a bit later. What did they tell me? You'd never guess...
"Ningbo is a city of high culture so we don't give a shit about goddamn foreigners who sleep too much."
High culture indeed...
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