When the building I live in was sold, about six months back, the new management company closed off the entrance to the building’s roof deck, barricading the door with a rather threatening emergency fire alarm.

At first, we weren’t entirely sure that the alarm was even activated, though shortly after it’s installation, one of our building-mates, perhaps similarly uncertain, apparently decided to check, and for the balance of one fall weekend the piercing alarm rang continuously down our stairwell.

At this past weekend’s Mothers’ Day party, however, I met our neighbors two flights up, and mentioned missing roof access as weather the warmed, as I’d previously often headed up, laptop in hand, to bang out work. They, in turn, replied that, with a bit of MacGyver ingenuity, they’d managed to disable the alarm and bust free the roof-bound door.

So, once again, I have a roof patio. Once again, I have sweeping night vistas of Midtown and the Hudson River. Once again, I’m tremendously pleased with where I live.