A tall storey

When my husband and I decided to give up our beautiful home, and convert it into apartments we handed over Avanti to "developers", for I believe that is the right word. What it developed into is what I want to share. The builder gave us an option of moving into a bigger complex. My husband was always loth to move into concrete jungles, and so was I. We opted to stay in the same locale where we have been positioned for the last 30 years or more. We thought staying in a building which had only 7 apartments would be exclusive, but we were sadly mistaken.
I wish it were possible to choose our neighbours! we don't have one like minded owner who feels for the building like we do.
No one is bothered about cleanliness outside of the building. clothes are dried out in the front yard of the ground floor, parking in unauthorised spaces, not attending meetings etc are part of our travails. A tattered mat is a reminder that no one cares, and the only ones who care have no voice.
Being owners of the "once house" the mantle of president, secretary, treasurer have landed squarely own our shouldersweighed down with solving problems of plumbing, basement flooding, dealing with the maintenance staff etc for the past 11 years, save for a brief period of help. The fact that we are getting older and totally disinerested in running the association where there is no co-operation or goodwill, nor appreciation does not matter. The rest of the residents claim they are too busy and the couple of retired parents who live there are labelled too infirm though they are a lot younger than us.
The residents look the other way when we tell them the building needs a fresh coat of paint and also when we tell them that the money contributed cannot meet the fixed expenditure... Some of them refuse to pay for the lift, saying they don't use it, that we the third floor people are the ones who use it most! One irate gentleman brought a whole lot of dirt and threw it before our front door marking his displeasure at our washing the balcony and dared allowed a little water to drip on to their garden below!
We have been given advice by many of our well meaning friends. "Just go away for 6 months, let the building go to dogs, yell at the non co operating people etc etc". Though we dont believe in running away from our problems, maybe one day we will and I fervently pray that the place we choose will be nothing short of paradise!
So before you fall into the temptation of "developing" your property, check with people like us before you are sunk into a quicksand of heartlessness!