Flat

For a few years my sister and I lived in an apartment (part of a triplex). This was just after we'd moved to Toronto and before we bought a house of our own.  It was located just south of the TTC place where they later set up the Wychwood Barns complex. Back then they kept old buses and streetcars there before junking them.  As a result, they had regular patrols to deter thieves, with the result that nearby houses were also safe from burglars.

Our apartment was on the second of three stories.  The downstairs neighbors once complained about the noise--slamming doors and such--but I noticed that one night they watched the Oscars show with a bunch of friends and whenever their favorite movie won they'd cheer loudly. (This was back when the Oscars show went on past midnight.)

The apartment's furnishings were somewhat old-fashioned.  We got heat from a radiator with white coils.  And our refrigeration was the sort that you had to defrost once in a while.  In the back yard was a pear tree, though it had seen better days.  There was a loud-mouthed neighbor you could often hear yelling at his wife in Russian.