What do I do about the crumbs?

It's funny to see how apartment living is different than house living in ways I never really thought about. Like the pj/lobby/newspaper issue, the fact that I can take out my garbage *any* day of the week, and now, the tablecloth issue.

My parents were here for dinner a couple nights ago, so we actually ate at the dinner table. Tablecloth and everything. As I was cleaning up after dinner, I wrapped up the tablecloth and realized I can't really go outside and shake it out. Because the people below me are on the ground floor, their patio extends further than my balcony. If I shake things out off the balcony, as I discovered the time I decided to shake out my broom off the balcony :p, I shower their planters and some of their patio, with crumbs, lint, etc. So that's not really a neighbourly option.

As I was trying to shake out the tablecloth into the sink, something occurred to me. Aside from just being slightly inconvenienced by this lack of "outside shaking", I was actually going to miss shaking the tablecloth outside. It was always a task I actually enjoyed. When I was little, I would hold the tablecloth behind me, pretending it was a cape, and run down the backyard and back. As I grew older, and life got busier and busier, it was a guaranteed moment of calm in an otherwise hectic day. Because you were doing a chore, you didn't have to feel guilty for not working on something else. Spending so much time indoors, it was also an almost daily reminder of how nice it was to get outdoors - whether it was a moment of listening to the insects as the sun set in the summer, or looking up at the bright stars in the dark sky and feeling the cold on my skin during the winter. Stealing that moment of silence is what I'm going to miss most.

Now I have to figure out some other way to force myself onto my balcony at night. It's just so easy to forget to do. And yet, it's a moment I love so much.