Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT

Every morning at 9 am it starts. It's so timely in fact, that you could set your watch to it. As it begins I involuntarily flinch and realize there is no point in keeping my eyes shut a moment longer. Bang! I hear a hammer hit and rubble crumbling on the ceiling above me and then the drilling starts. The drilling bores into my head, and it is so loud that I can't hear myself think. Usually, at this time my roommate and I simultaneously head out into the living room to try to escape some of the harsh sounds of the drilling and hammering since it is happening right above our rooms.

This has been going on for over two months. Even though the neighbors have come down and said their apologies and we know it is no one's "fault," it seems that there is always something under construction in our building.

People in our neighborhood WeChat group joke, saying that something is always either being built or torn down and that Beijing will never be "finished." One member of the WeChat group complained saying, "Can't even sleep in on my day off; will the torture never end?"

In addition to our neighborhood, we live in the hutong area where all the buildings are continuously being bricked and you can barely make it down the street without having to back up to a wall for a dump truck or a carrier bike full of bricks to get by.

Even though I want to give the construction workers the "evil eye" every time I see them, I know they are just doing their job. However, I still feel like I it would be nice to walk down the street without dodging rubble or hearing a jackhammer around every corner.

On the other hand, Beijing is a growing city.

Much of the construction is to aid bringing buildings and apartments up to standard with the times. Construction and building up of not only Beijing but all of China will be a part of life for the foreseeable future.

Currently, there are many areas being developed along the outskirts of Beijing in order to ease traffic and people congestion.

These steps are being made to help curve the population growth in the city and to help move manufacturing and logistics facilities to nearby regions.

I think that this is a great move because it is almost impossible to get around the city at rush hour, and on the weekends everywhere you go is so crowded that I have more or less become a homebody to avoid the congestion.

Luckily, the workers in my complex aren't allowed to work on weekends, so that is when I can find time for a little peace and quiet.

Even though I know that the renovations will eventually be complete, I can't help but wonder if the other neighbors will want to renovate next and the cycle will start again!

Honestly, I wish the tenants would invite me up once it's complete because as much as they have been drilling, hammering and marching up the stairs, I expect the apartment to look like the Taj Mahal!

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.