Ah, yes, those dreadful summers without hot water...it was a trial for me, that is for sure. I had to do quite a lot of entertaining and always had literally stacks of dishes to wash every day. Not very much fun when you have to heat up so much hot water all the time. We would fill our bathtubs and insert a heating device in order to get enough hot water with which to wash dishes, have baths, etc.
But I did hear my neighbours through the walls at times. Fortunately, I lived in a five story apartment designated for war veterns. But sometimes my neighbour to the left would have loud, shriekingly wild nights and I would hear it all...and my neighbour to the right- a dear elderly gentleman who was hard of hearing, would turn his telly up so high that it was impossible to fall asleep. Feeling simply awful about confronting him, nevertheless, I did so one day. The next day (incidentally , 8th of March!) he knocked on my door with a flurry of apologies and a beautiful box of chocolates!! He was truly a beautiful person.
One time a couple drunks stole all my dresses off the clothesline. This was a near disaster for me, due to my religious circumstances at the time...However, the "mayoress" of the building, a fiery "red-head" in her 60's employed all her cronies and eventually-triumphantly!-a week later, she showed up at my door with a whole bundle of my dresses in her hands!! Wow-that was such an impressive feat in my eyes!
Oh, those were the "good old days"!! Such colourful adventures seldom befall me here-life is somehow too predictable, too grey, for the most part...