“I have been living here for 37 years and I have seen many changes. Our building used to be part of a prison until 1978. In those days this neighbourhood was not really a safe place to be. Back in the 1980’s the snackbar across the street handed french fries and croquettes to the customer through a small window in the door. But the area has improved a lot since then. We’re happy campers to be living in the best place ever, surrounded by the most theatres per square kilometer in the world. However, it has become increasingly crowded these last years with noisy groups of sometimes up to a hundred tourists loudly enjoying their pub crawl. About 15% of the apartments nearby are rented out to tourists year-round, which makes the neighbourhood feel more anonymous. Another nuisance is that in a dark corner of our building, where our emergency exit is, men urinate so much that the hinges of the steel door were rusted through. We are now installing a paint that ‘pees back’ onto the one who pees! And a motion sensing light will automatically shine there, on my portrait with the text ‘I live here’. And that’s what I do with gratitude and if necessary with an activist attitude!”
