Vocal Voices

My upstairs neighbour is a tenant and the owner of the flat (Rob) hasn't really done or cared much about anything really since he started sub-letting (which was 6 months after I moved in) and esp the garden has always been totally neglected. Much to my disgust he used to get someone come in maybe once or twice a year to cut back the nettles and brambles which usually grew higher than my 6ft fence; and - I know it's not important to many, but it is to me - generally always at a time when it was most detrimental to the local wildlife (but that's by the by)

Anyway today I got home and Rob has finally got rid of all the rubbish that's been accumulating and had hired someone with a mini digger to dig up most the bramble and nettle roots etc, flatten the area and start preparing it to finally make it a garden which I'm glad about because finally something is being done and no more HUGE weeds damaging the fences etc and I'm really pleased for Sarah's son Jacob (who is 5) that he finally will have a garden to play in - poor kid has spent most of the previous summers cooped up in an upstairs flat. But, my concern is that once the garden is done, Sarah and Jacob will (as they should) spend quite a bit of time outside in the garden and I worry that my - at the moment - generally lovely quiet summer evenings after work will be quite badly interrupted by Sarah and Jacob shouting to each other from the flat to the garden and vice versa. With most of the flats, the properties are divided in half running from the house down to the back garden, ie the downstairs flat has the left side and upstairs has the right side of the garden. However, for some reason the gardens belonging to Sarah's and my side of the house is split 1/2 way down the garden which means that I have the 1/2 closest to the house and she has hers behind mine, with a path running alongside my garden that she has to walk along to get to her garden. All in all a bit of an odd set up really. But the way it's been done, does mean that they'll be shouting right over my head; and trust me - shouting is something these two excel in at times they seem unable to speak normally to each other; and Jacob, as young as he is, gives as good as he gets.

As much as Sarah is a nice enough person; she sadly has very little idea of consideration for others and how her behaviour may affect others

Who knows, I may be pleasantly surprised - but I somehow doubt it

Oh Ria, I really hope this doesn't cause you any problems. I know how much you love spending time in your garden, it'd be such a shame to have your enjoyment of it spoiled

It's so quiet around here, apart from a dog with barks incessantly during the day. The problem we have with our garden is the smell of cigarettes from the chain smokers next door

Oh dear meriad, mixed blessings then

I do sympathise, I absolutely loved my flat, but the downstairs neighbours were a nightmare. It wasn't all of them though, just the father - there was him, his wife, and two young daughters. And a dog. A lovely dog, a small staffie who the girls would play with endlessly, dressed her up in dolls clothes...
But. The garden there was odd too. We had a shared entrance - gate, part of garden, path to both front doors (my door on the ground floor led to steps to my inside front door). Their flat had an enclosed garden right outside the back; mine was down the shared path then through a gate...hard to explain.

The dog would be let loose in the front garden - why? - as soon as my lower door was open she could hotfoot it up my steps and if it was hot and I had the upstairs door open, straight into my flat - with muddy paws, hundred miles an hour all round then out
She would also meet me from work - in smart suit, whatever, through the gate, dog jump up, muddy paws
One day I got home from work and he'd painted the front gate - nice of him, except it was wet and no way of getting through the damned thing

Oh dear Ria, I sure can empathise with you.

For the first five years I had only adult neighbours - no children. One couple had a young baby, but moved out while it was still in nappies, so it didn't really count. Now I have two young families with children, two of whom are about to start primary school. We do not have gardens, just the grounds with the green at the back.

The green is where they all play and that is where all the noise comes from, and yes, a lot of it is mums/dads shouting at children and children shouting back. The only way I have come to cope is to convince myself that it is good and normal noise - and to some extent it is. I much prefer it to the boom, boom, boom of loud music or adult arguments, which some other neighbours have to put up with.

It is not ideal and it is annoying, but I keep telling myself that I will never get true peace and quiet unless I go live in a monastery..... and it could be a lot worse.

Sorry, that's no help at all just a POV.

Aww WM p'raps you could come stay in our spare room for a week or so, believe me you'd really get to know what peace and quiet is - unless you really hate birds

I can sympathise with anyone having noisy neighbours.

I once lived next door to a family who were always shouting and banging doors.
Even their oven door, which was part of the living room fireplace, used to squeal
every time it was opened - and then closed with a squeal and a bang.

We are lucky in our new retirement apartment. It has been built so that we rarely
hear any of the other occupant's activities. We can't even hear the plans passing overhead
from Birmingham airport.

Don't let it get you down, Ria.

As they say, Nil illegitimi Carborundum

Oh Ria, I hope it won't be as bad as you fear

We have a school quite close by, so can hear children playing/shouting at break times but not very loudly, as we're not slap bang on top of it......That doesn't bother me really anyway as it is happy. background noise, and not in my back garden!! This is a lovely quiet place, with considerate and quiet neighbours - I worry sometimes that WE might be the noisy neighbours on here as the dogs bark a bit We do check them when they do it, but as terriers it is very hard to stop them. Nobody has complained yet, in fact I asked next door and she said they hardly hear them, so either she was being very kind, or else I am being paranoid

thanks - I also am hopefull it'll be OK

And make no mistake - I really don't mind the sound of people sitting outside and having fun and kids playing; most of the other neighbours spend hours outside having fun and it's great - and I agree 100% Frank the boom boom boom of loud music is probably one of the worst things.

What I'm worried about is Jacob being in the garden shouting mom mom mom and Sarah either not hearing or ignoring him (which she regularly does when he calls her) or him in the house and shouting to her - and quite often their 'conversations' end up with her shouting at him using some very choice language Nice example to be setting but hey....

but ho hum.... lets see what the summer brings

No, that's not pleasant Hope it will be ok xxxx

Ah Ria, I can sympathise as I have trouble with the gardens of tenanted properties too. Serve a notice then a month or so later it is just as bad, so now I am having the Estate gardener tend to some every month and charging the owners.