Stair life

One remarkable thing about our new place is the cleanliness of the stair (I'm not sure why, but the communal space in these tenement buildings, including the stairs, is always referred to in the singular). It was one of the deciding factors when choosing this place - so many other places we had seen had grotty, litter-strewn stairs (with flats that were sometimes little better). Yesterday, we were let into the secret of the clean stair...

There's a wee card that hangs on the doorknob of one of the flats on our floor each week. It reads: "Notice to Tenant. It is YOUR turn to SWEEP and WASH the common Tuesday this week. Note - Please hand this card to the householder next in rotation after having completed your turn. Environmental Health Department." (the scary caps. are like that on the sign). On the back are the quite detailed "Bye-laws for the Cleansing of Common Property". A & I were not looking forward to OUR turn - being a bit unsure of what constituted "the common" and hoping like hell that it wasn't all 4 floors of the building.

This week it is our turn, but fortunately our neighbour Margaret explained all as she handed over the card. We just have to put a bucket of water with 1 pound 50 under it on our doorstep on Tuesday morning, and someone comes and cleans it for us. Phew!

All this communal living and the rules and etiquette that go with it are new to me. We also have a communal back green where we can hang out our washing, but I'm not sure whether we're only supposed to use certain lines, or certain days. Mum says you used to be allocated a day of the week when the back green was yours. So far I've been quite random about it, and haven't been told off yet.

Apart from being fascinated by this domestic minutiae, I also learned a bit more about Ultimate this weekend (although I still keep calling it frisbee - I suspect this is a terrible faux pas). The frisbee is actually a "disc", there are no referees (it's all amiable good fun really, right down to the inter-team bonding rites (don't ask!) at the end of each game), and, for those interested in such stats, approx 7:3 male:female ratio. I guess these details are important in such a devoutly "social" sport!