|
Viewed 2225 times. 22 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
People who enjoyed reading this: ignatius, mlbot, Roshi, daswesen, jdg, doofgoblin, crabster, Lara, frnortnr, VC, energygiant, lilt, reehc, FiveStepPath, papergoose, Analog, bb01, Zanf, bodo, bbwax, tylth, opticecho
-->
I'm only 26 but I think I've become a grumpy old man. Heres the thing...
I live with my girlfriend in a small terraced house that I rent off my friend who's gone travelling. On alternate weekends, my 6 year old daughter comes to stay. We live in an area very popular with students, so although we've only lived here a couple of years, we've seen a few neighbours come and go.
One set of neighbours moved in last september, and seem to enjoy the odd house party or two. This wasn't too much of a problem; they were quite frequent and loud, and went on until 3 or 4 in the morning, but were at a volume where if you were tired enough you could get to sleep within 20 minutes or so. It was even less of a problem as they never seemed to clash with my daughter staying over.
Anyways, the parties stopped for a month or so, and then on Saturday it became a whole new ballgame. I had put my daughter to bed, then around 9 o'clock one of the neighbours knocked on my door and said that they were going to have a party but they were going to try and keep the noise down. I said that would be much appreciated as my six year old daughter was asleep upstairs and left it as that. As the night went on the music got louder and louder. I'm pretty sure they must have had some form of PA in there as this was no where near home stereo volume. Also, we had a partygoers sitting on the wall in front of my house all night rapping along to either their car boombox, or some tune they had on their mobile phone. As it got louder and louder, and I could hear the TV less and less, I got more and more annoyed. I ended up doing something I thought I would never do. I called the council.
It turns out though, here in the UK, they can't actually do anything. They turned up in their car, parked quite far down the road, and phoned me from there...
Council: Hi it's the council, are you in the house with the lights on?
Me: Yup, that's me.
Council: We need to come into your house and take a reading, but their seems to be a few black lads sitting on your wall. Is it a Jamaican Party? Are they playing the bass beats?
Me: Yes they are playing the bass beats. I'm not that keen on you coming over though as there's a lot of people on there and it's might get nasty if they think I've complained.
Council: Yes. We wouldn't come across right now as we get attacked frequently, and even if we did get a reading, we can't knock on their door without police backup, and we'll never get the police out on a Saturday night as they're already too busy.
Me: Jeez...
Coucil: We could maybe do a walk-by thoough and get a reading, and send them a letter in the week though?
Me: Ok then
Convesation ends. Phone rings again...
Council: Hi it's me again.
Me: Hi
Council: I've just wound down the car window down and I could get a reading from here (they were about 150 meters away). We'll get a letter to them by wednesday and hopefully you should have a quieter weekend next weekend.
Me: OK, thanks, bye.
And that was that. My girlfriend and I managed to get to sleep around 3:30 when the party was finishing. My daughter woke up at approx 1:30, at which point I thought I was going to be sitting up with her all night, but it just turned out she had a tricky bit of snot wedged up her nose and she wanted me to dig it out for her. She didn't even notice the "bass beats" coming from next door. Straight back to sleep.
So was I a grumpy old man for phoning the council?, and, should I play Shitmat really loud from now until they move out?
Sorry about the big winge.
What's more, the music was crap
Jenny from the block.
| |
Comments
05/15/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
mrmistermr
as a student we had parties. best ones - the police came.
05/15/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
lilt
So was I a grumpy old man for phoning the council?, and, should I play Shitmat really loud from now until they move out?
yes you were a grumpy old man...but thats okay because at 23 im a really grumpy old man as well
and yes...you should play shitmat at them
05/15/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
FiveStepPath
Naw I don't think you are grumpy. If that would have happened to me i'd go crazy!
05/15/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
papergoose
Personally, I think if you were in an area with lots of college kids and it was the weekend, and they even gave you notice that they were going to be having a party, yeah, you are a grumpy old man.
If it's the 'burbs, on a weeknight, not so much.
But when are these people supposed to party?
It's gotta happen some time. I've always been of the mind that if you are generally nice and respectful most times, every once in a while you are completely within your right to get loud and rowdy.
05/15/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
papergoose
and yes, you should play shitmat at them.
:-)
05/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
Analog
the best plan is to find out when their exams are then have a massive raveup teh night before. you don't need to start till 3am.
05/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
dynamo
Grumpy old men of the world, unite and take over!!
(i for sure consider myself both old and occasionally bad-tempered)
05/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
momsazombie
Students rapping on the street to a car stereo and a PA in a terrace living room? What kind of students are we talking about here? Studying for bsc's in narcotics distribution, teenage pregnancy and petty theft?
No you're not a grumpy old man. Everyone's got their line. Any loud muisc past 12 and I'm Harry Callaghan (except he's winding down with a job in environmental health, and instead of a .45 Magnum under his jacket he's packing a state of the art decibel meter).
05/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
Zanf
momsazombie said: "Studying for bsc's in narcotics distribution, teenage pregnancy and petty theft? "
we study all that stuff at kindergarden level and have the national stats to prove it!! ;)
I liked this blog purely and very specifically because you said about your daughter waking up and "t just turned out she had a tricky bit of snot wedged up her nose and she wanted me to dig it out for her."
About what the EHO could do - surely they have powers under the CJA to stop parties like this? We do need some reformation of the noise laws in this country. Giving out ASBO's to noisy neighbours is just pathetic, considering that it usually takes a couple of years at least, to get them to court.
I dont think youre a grumpy old man either [I am one so I should know] - I think its a pretty pisspoor show to turn up @ 9pm on the day to announce a party - if they had any consideration they should have said at least 24-48 hours before so you could make plans to stay elsewhere, if you chose to.
05/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
bbwax
i vote no on the grumpy old man.
it's pretty funny they warned you about the party though. can't imagine anybody doing that in the states. i've always pictured the uk as having more effective ways of dealing with this. less of the wild-west attitude of the states, but sounds like you are in the same boat.
noise is a funny issue because it goes beyond property boundaries. unlike if somebody wants to paint their living room with obscene murals or install a fountain in their bedroom. doesn't really bother me. but when people make outrageous amounts of noise, it effects everyone around them. but the police and city councils are like "sorry, we can't do anything". just doesn't seem fair that as a law-abiding tax-paying property-owning voting citizen you can be crapped on at will by anybody with a giant subwoofer or other noisemaking device. now i sound like a grumpy old man.
i'm VERY sensitive to noise myself. too bad i live next to a school playground of screaming banshees (i feel your pain ignatius) and redneck neighbors who ride 4-wheelers and gocarts around their house, street, and woods - for hours at a time.
after years of different apt. problems and neighbor problems, dogs/stereos/parties/guns/fighting/motors, you name it, i've come to the conclusion the only solution, at least in this part of the states, is to move to a more expensive neighborhood with covenants and restrictions. then you will weed out some of the problems. takes a shitload more $ though, and i don't have that at the moment.
maybe we should google on revenge tips for noise problems. gotta be something out there.
05/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
momsazombie
Give Khan of "Wrath of Khan" a call and he might bring round some of those things they like to pop in people's ears. Stick them through the letter box in the night and they will find their way into your neighbours' stupid heads and make them deaf and mad. That should work.
05/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
Psyingo
but than you've got mindless idiots trying to crank the stereo to extreme levels to try and hear it.
05/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
opticecho
I just moved to SE PDX 2 months ago, and my new neighbor has 2 begals that bark all fucking day and night. The owner is a recent widow at 50, so I think everyone feels sorry for him. But, I went over there after about a week of putting up w/ that crap, and things were cool for like a week and a half. But now, again, those dogs are going crazy. I'd hate to be a dick and call the cops or animal rights, but this is totally bogus, not to mention breaking city regulations. I can't enjoy myself at home, or sleep well. I tried putting in a loud as hell air purifier in the bedroom, which helps a bit, but I can still hear them howling at 3:30 am. I'll talk to them 1 more time, but I think it's time to take the next step quite soon ...
So I'm right there with you ... Grumpier old man ...
05/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
Jetsom
"I think its a pretty pisspoor show to turn up @ 9pm on the day to announce a party - if they had any consideration they should have said at least 24-48 hours before so you could make plans to stay elsewhere, if you chose to."
That sounds nice, no-one's ever done that to me. I guess a lot of people perhaps don't do stuff like that so they don't make the neighbour feel more comfortable about knocking on their door on the night.
05/16/07
+
PM |
QUOTE |
PERMALINK |
REPORT
DANDYLIOPISS
fuck your council, fuck your neighbours and put your own music on!, i have a 9 year old in bed when i blast my beats, i think its good for them...
26? you should be raving still!!!
:-•••
Register / login
|
^
EM411 is Copyright 2001-2008 EM411.com
All rights reserved. | Contact | RSS
|
