My wife and I live in a ground floor flat with my daughter 
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It is very peaceful and nights are quiet here with only the sound of the occasional owl or if we are unlucky, the distant sounds of music from a party. I remember when we first moved in there used to be a chorus of frogs in the wet season, the deep croaks and shrill tweets creating a musical cacophony that would drown out the TV on occasion. Today it is much quieter, a worrying sign that something is wrong with our local habitat.
There is so much to see if you take the time to look. At dusk the bats emerge and swoop down catching the unlucky insect on the wing. We are beholden to these creatures which play a large part in keeping the insect population under control.
Coming home late, I have seen scrub hares frozen in the lights of the car, for a minute they stand transfixed then away they hop into the undergrowth. I have met Steenbokkies on my walks behind the house and found porcupine quills in the veld.
My flat opens up to our car park. In the past we would leave our door open day and night, only locking the grill. This was not a good idea, masses of creepy crawlies, from large rain spiders, scorpion, centipedes (Can they move fast!) to frogs and snakes have all found their way indoors. After the first snake encounter, a large puff adder, I decided to create a barrier to stop them but it has not helped much. So far we have only had two snakes in the house, the aforesaid Puffy and a small brown house snake. I have caught them all so far and managed to release them back into the wild. Truth be told, my wife is not impressed with the snake incursions, so far she has had first contact.
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Even though we have a regular influx of insects and reptiles, I still love the feeling of living in two worlds. Just down the road and we are in the city and out around the back we are in the country. We are very lucky.
