‘The building is covered with scaffolding. There is a big job going on.  It was supposed to be finished before Christmas but it is not yet finished.  It is now the end of January.  There are men scraping and men painting and they are here and there and they are right outside the windows.  In this apartment, that means they are everywhere.

The apartment is very long and very narrow.  There are twenty four windows all along one side, and right around the curve at one end of the building.  Each time we look up there is someone at a window.  Sometimes it is not really a person but the shadow of a person.  Sometimes there is no one at all as they are all up on other floors. 

The men try not to look at us and we try not to look at them, but inevitably we all fail.  We are so used to looking out our windows at home and seeing nothing but green fields and vegetation and weather.  The thrill of being here has always been looking out the windows and seeing the city and its activity.’ (Erica Van Horn)