so , inevitably , this guyhad no choicebut to hear neds cheerful whistling , receding down the stairs every morning ( coming up the stairs every evening ) and see neds immaculate tennis shoes out of the corner of his eye as he turned to descend the stairs in the mornings ( as he turned to open his door in the evenings ) ; and for the remaining minutes of his encounter with ned ( from one to say five depending on how much trouble he was having with the lock ) this guy had to consciously remind himselfnot to hearneds whistling andnot to seehis shoes ; and the mental effort involved innot hearingneds whistling ( cheerful whistling , show tunes ) andnot seeingneds shoes ( immaculate white canvas in all sorts of weather ) turned out to be considerably worse than if this guy had just given up on ignoring them altogether .