Correspondence Regarding Balcony Visibility Etiquette
An unspoken coordination system has been operating on adjacent balconies for an undetermined period.
To: The occupant of the adjacent unit From: The occupant of this unit Subject: Balcony Visibility Etiquette , Status and Current Arrangements Date: April 23, 2024
This letter is not being sent. It is being written to clarify the situation to the author.
It has been approximately fourteen months since the coordination began. Neither party initiated it. It emerged from the fact that the two balconies share a sightline of approximately thirty degrees at the corner where the buildings meet, and from the further fact that both parties use the balcony during the same general hours.
The arrangement is as follows. When one party is already on the balcony, the other party, upon exiting, angles slightly away from the overlap point. This is not dramatic. Four to seven degrees is sufficient. Eye contact is not avoided. It is simply not sought. The posture communicates: I am here, I am not performing being here, you may continue.
This works. It has worked for fourteen months.
The concern is that under the governing rule, balcony visibility etiquette may continue indefinitely once everyone knows how to work around it. The workaround has now produced a second check designed to confirm the first one worked. Before stepping onto the balcony, one party briefly assesses the angle of morning light against the adjacent balcony's glass door to determine whether the other party is present. This check takes two seconds. It has become a standard step.
Soon there will be a third check. The third check will confirm that the second check was correctly performed. This is how an ordinary action acquires a parallel administrative system.
Both parties have enough information about each other to coordinate. Both parties have too little information to discuss the coordination directly. People know enough to adjust behavior; they often know too little to name what they are adjusting.
This is not a complaint. The arrangement is functional. It requires nothing from either party except that both parties continue to understand the arrangement without being told about it.
The present letter documents that understanding.
No response is expected. A response would complicate things.
Regards, The author of this letter