Street keepers

My gypsies neighbors are junk and metal traders. They use the street below my window to work. To accomplish their work, they constantly bang metal parts, old fixtures and things to break it up in smaller pieces to sell. They bring and dump truckload here at all hours. As such, they are a nuisance and an eyesore. It is a pain to have someone watching all your movements, and sometimes obliging you to greet and get their permission to pass because of junk obstructions.

Unexpected and very significant Upside

Everyday, one or more gypsies keep watch over the street and surroundings. Women stay inside the apartment and are often seen observing all from the apartment window ledge. Usually Grandpa (40-50ish years old) remains throughout the day and until late at night on the street watching. The young men bang and move junk on and off the trucks while their numerous unschooled progeniture play in the street.

Street keeper

The street keeper first takes position facing our apartment building door to watch and then towards the late afternoon moves two doors away to the street corner to wait for his sons to return from their daily junk run. From this privileged viewpoint, the self-appointed street guardians keep an eye on everybody's coming and going.

Frankly, no thief in his right mind would dare try anything funny in our street.

Young and foolish

A case in point concerns what happened when one fearless newbie did enter the street. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon when he wandered in to check out the cars. He made his choice and broke the window of one to steal something left on the seat, a cell phone maybe. Our acting streetkeepers immediately jumped him and began beating him up. Meanwhile, the car's owner, alerted by the noise and shouts, came running down from his apartment above after calling the cops. 6 policeman arrived instantly, blocking the street entrance with several police cars. They then began taking the witness from the gypsy family, the car owner couple. The hapless thief, probably in his late teens (a junky?), was arrested.
My friend's comment was that, word probably spread like fire to the neighborhood thief and junky community that this little street is not a good place of business.

Rain

This week, the rainy weather has been kept my neighbors refreshingly quiet inside their apartment. There's been little hammer-banging metal below our windows. Gypsies, like the grasshopper of the well-known fable, don't like rain or cold.