Sorry for my talking too much. Maybe I’m just letting off steam.

Playing in the apartment house is a big part of the problem. I’m more often than not aware of my neighbors when preparing to play the next note.

I’m actually lucky – my neighbors will at most give me a funny look.
In this country it’s not uncommon to turn on a loud speaker system at full volume in response to someone’s practicing a musical instrument in the next apartment or start banging on the walls/floor/’central heating system pipes’.