Reasons why I'm glad I'm moving

The building has settled. That much I know. It was brand new when I moved in a little over two years ago and now it has settled a lot.

When they were building it I watched them put two feet of crushed rock underneath the parking lot. When they built the neighbourhood down the street they drove piles into the ground for weeks to stabilize the ground. They barely put anything under the foundation of this building. Why that was is a mystery to me. The ground is pretty marshy around here.

The people who built the building, my landlords, they're not exatly smart, but that's a topic that I intentionally skirt on this blog for multiple reasons.

So the building has settled, or is settling. Maybe it will settle more. All I know is that there are cracks by door and windowsills that are getting larger and the kitchen counter's trying to separate itself from the wall.

Is that why all of a sudden trains are bothering me? I've lived more or less in the same location for over 16 years and there have always been trains nearby. I'm so used to them that I've mistaken earthquakes for freight trains. I don't remember them ever being all that disruptive.

But all of a sudden I'm being shaken awake in the middle of the night by trains idling nearby. They sit there for about an hour from 2:30-3:30 before they move on. It's not really shaking, more like a low vibration that makes me nauseous. I've never been a good sleeper but this makes it worse.

I wake up feeling really dumb and drained. All the better reason to move.