You may recall an incident involving the second-floor apartment of our next-door neighbors. It’s been more fun.
OCTOBER 1 – it’s a three-day weekend for the college students on the second floor next door. The noise from the music was so loud, I went over there to ask them to turn it down around 11 p.m. It was so loud that when I was POUNDING on the door, it took about three minutes to be heard.
The music returns. The Daughter cannot sleep. I go out in front, talking to the neighbors on the front porch, warning them I would call the police if the music didn’t lessen. BTW, it wasn’t just music. It was loud and constant conversation, punctuated by occasional WOOs.
OCTOBER 2 – Redux. I call the police non-emergency number at the stroke of 11 p.m. Music diminishes, and I go to sleep. But at 12:30, music volume returns, and while I slept through it, The Wife awoke. Finally, at 1:15 a.m., she called the police. Neither of us knew that the other had called until morning.
OCTOBER 7- I’m home in the morning with a sick child. The doorbell rings. It’s a guy from the other side of the problem house. He wants to know if it was a problem for us (oh, YES), if we had called the police (yes, twice), and whether HE ought to call the police if he’s bothered by their noise (absolutely). I want it made clear that it is not just us who are inconvenienced, and TIRED.
OCTOBER 8 – It’s 10 p.m. The Daughter and I are watching JEOPARDY! when the doorbell rings; it’s the police. They had gotten a report of a loud party at OUR house, but it is instantly clear to them that this is not the case. I theorize that this may be in retaliation for our calls. The police go over to visit them.
Later, the music got a little loud, but not as bad as the other nights. It was soft enough that my white noise machine, which The Wife had purchased a couple of Christmases ago, blocked the noise.
OCTOBER 9 and 10 – The Wife and I, separately, see the absentee landlord and tell him of our woes. He told me that, as a result of my spouse’s conversation with him, he had had a chat with them.
It’s been OK since then. We have heard them talking at 4 a.m. occasionally, but not loudly enough to complain, usually when they’re in the rear of their building. The houses on both sides of us are longer (deeper) than ours, and The Wife theorizes that the noise leaves the back of the one house, bounces off the other building, and echoes even louder into ours.
Also, the midterms are approaching, and as the weather gets chillier, the windows tend to be closed more often.
Meanwhile:
OCTOBER 5 – The Wife parks in front of our house, and goes inside. The Daughter, tired from soccer practice, remains in the vehicle. The adult granddaughter of our other-side neighbors – she does not live there – is going to pull in front of our car. But she rushes, likely in response to a car barreling down our street too quickly, and clips the front corner on the driver’s side.
The Daughter runs into the house to tell her mother the car has been hit. The young woman was very apologetic, and she and the Wife discuss insurance and the like. The woman’s grandparents come out, concerned. They don’t see the damage at first -our car is white – but soon enough they do. The other car is worse for wear.
OCTOBER 6
I see the male neighbor and mention in passing that The Daughter’s OK after the accident. Very soon, the entire family’s at our door, concerned and actually angry with my spouse. Why didn’t she tell them our girl was in the car? She wasn’t hurt, and it wasn’t an issue.
The Wife dealt with at least two insurance companies, had a loaner car for three days, and as of OCTOBER 19 has her car back.
In re loud neighbors and retaliation: I had terrible neighbors one summer (not even college students; 20-somethings all working at late-in-the-day jobs) who partied all night long, every night.
I called in noise complaints on them. I was teaching and had to be at work by 8 am.
Someone tried to blow up my mailbox with firecrackers a couple weeks later.
I don’t have proof, but I suspect who tried it.
Fortunately they wound up getting evicted. Later on I found out I wasn’t the only one calling in noise complaints.
I don’t UNDERSTAND that kind of behavior. Surely you must know if you have a stereo system blasting at 1 am and your windows open, your neighbors – whose lights are all off, and so must be in bed – are going to object? I guess the answer is the people with the stereo don’t care.
What felt so unfair was that I never mowed or edged my lawn before 10 am on a weekend, because I figured “someone might be sleeping.”
Thanks for not mowing your lawn before 10 am, though, fillyjonk! Us night people appreciate it.
Wow, and I thought our neighbor playing music really loud once in a while was bad.