Apartment living arrggghhhh!

There is an elderly couple who live directly below us. She's lovely, he's nice but hasn't been well. She speaks a bit of English and we get by on my limited French, he mainly speaks to the kids in French. He's complained before about the noise of the kids running in the apartment (must travel straight into their place) - the first time was when Nina, Darren and Emma were here and the three kids were running around. But it was about 6pm and a bit hard to swallow...

The other night after dinner the four of us were chasing each other thru the lounge/kitchen/dining area loop. Doorbell rang, MK and I scuttled off and Lily went to answer it. No one there, but she did say she saw the man from downstairs getting into the lift. Considered it a warning and quietened down.

Tonight, doorbell rang again but this time Lily was on the toilet, I was washing the dinner dishes and it was only Charlotte bopping about (and it wasn't much running, from memory). When I answered it, it was the man from downstairs and he went off. All in French, very cross. Ahhh, what could I say except the appallingly bad grammared 'seulement Charlotte' and 'je desole'. Crap, we weren't expecting that one. But I think it was the other night that set him off so it didn't take much tonight to really get him going. And he was going.

Shitty way to live, always worried about the kids running around. But there is a pattern...all the complaints have come in around 6 and 7pm. So maybe we just be extra careful at those times. Shame, as after dinner and before bath is a good time for the kids to burn some energy.