[Hitch]

Originally Posted by tempest@de

I wish my neighbors across the street would play only one song and quit. They moved a few months ago, and I noticed right away that I could listen to their music when I’m in my house across the street, but since the school holidays started they have the music going pretty much every day at several hours, during the day I’m not at home so I really don’t care, but yesterday evening I went to watch TV and my tv room is across their house and I couldn’t hear the TV, only the music, and since it is pretty hot at night is when we open all the windows to let the air flow.

I hate noise, I lived in an apartment and hated it because of the noise, the upstairs neighbor loved to watch football with the sound really high, the one across the landing loved phil Collins so almost every weekend it would play, usually when I was reading, and the one bellow loved electronic music, especially at night, this one was the worst because of the vibration.
I moved into a house in a quiet street without big buildings, its almost all houses and for the most part I’m good, except for the music and when the dogs from the neighbors are alone and bark in displeasure. I wish I could have a force field around me to block all the noise.

And I can’t complain at home because I’m the one that chose the house we are in now and the one that wanted to move because of the noise, so I have to suck it up.

Noise is psychologically destructive, seriously. Even forgetting torture techniques and the like.

I lived in a quiet-ish neighborhood, for years. A guy moved into the neighborhood with his tween boy, and promptly they got a dog, which they both neglected. A largish dog, part lab, part who-knows.

Their house was next to the community mailbox, kitty-corner from my house (my house was on the outside of a 90-degree angle, his was on the inside, if you get the image). If anyone went to his house, or to the mailbox, and they weren't home--which was most of the time--the dog would start barking.

And never stop. I mean, never stop.

I oncecounteded and coutned the barks. This dog barked >2,000x per hour. Yes, more than TWO THOUSAND times, per hour. And this would go on for 6, 8, sometimes 10 hours a day.

The owner once went out of town, for Xmas, leaving some neighbor to feed the dog, and the dog barked and howled, through Xmas, for 5 days STRAIGHT.

In the meantime, our esteemed City Council had decided that they weren't going to enforce noise ordinances. Other than suing him, what can you do? I repeatedly asked him to do something, and of course, he didn't.

I actually reached the point, after 3 years of this, day-in, day-out, of considering killing the dog. I mean...I'm an animal lover. I was horrified at the thought, but I was losing my mind. I worked from home, and I listened to this, all day, every day. Our HOA refused to pay attention to me, because, wait for it, he was the President thereof.

Finally, he left the HOA/neighborhood, and I told the newly-elected people that if they didn't do something, I was suing them personally. I know, it sounds like I'm some cranky old fart a**h*le, but...you can't imagine what it was like. I could hear it with the TV on, with the air-conditioner running, there was NO escaping it.

This jerk finally met a woman and they moved. Shortly thereafter, we moved to our new house.

The first morning in the new house, I'm wakened by...dogs barking, down the road. I actually started to CRY, and I'm not a crier, ever. I was so freaked out, by years of noise abuse, from that *&^%$# dog and his horrible owner, that I lost it over something as trivial as a few dogs barking.

Spoiler:

(And, of course, what happened? These *&^%$#@ had dogs that barked every single morning, too. I put a note on their door, telling them that if they didn't do something, it would be he police or the courts. I and a few other local residents, the inconsiderate *&^%$#@. It boggles me that people just don't HEAR what their *&^%$#@ dogs are doing. They were HOME for this, mind you--it would start at 5:45 each morning, and go on for two hours while the local kids would walk down past this house to the busstop, about a mile from their homes. EVERY DAY, 5x week, during the 8-9 mos of school season.)

Don't dismiss what noise can do to you. I would have thought it was ridiculous, y'know?--until I lived it. Years of it. I'd go talk to them now. Just tell them the truth--that their music is loud enough to drown out your own TV. That's ridiculous, unless their window is 5' from yours, and I'm sure it's not. Trust me, if you don't nip it in the bud now, you'll probably just be suffering more, later.

Offered FWIW.

Hitch