I'm becoming obsessed with noise.

[woolymonkey]

We live next to a student house whose main rooms are back to back with ours so life in the Monkey House tends to be lived to a pulsing soundtrack of someone else's rock music at the best of times.  Generally we can cope with it.  It's what made the house affordable and we make a fair amount of noise ourselves.

This year however we have a group of students who are not only unbelievably noisy and unremittingly insommniac, but also vile and obnoxious.  Apart from a few hours in the morning, there is generally more likely than not to be low-level noise.  Then, very frequently there is loud music, loud television, and even louder bellowing, screaming, yelling, chanting, door slamming...  All the sounds of a crowd of drunken yobs staggering home from a football game, only at three o'clock in the morning, loud and clear in our bedroom.

Even on a more normal night, there's no point asking them to turn it down a little because it's keeping us awake.  The either agree, but do nothing, or get abusive and argumentative. 

On Friday night, the council noise officer's visit finally coincided with a bad episode, so she was able to serve a Noise Abatement Order on them (which means that next time it's a crime and they can be prosecuted).  This has helped a bit, but not much.  We are dealing with people who think a sensible response to an NAO is to stand under our bedroom window at 11.30 last night, shouting abuse and kicking the recycling crate as noisily as possible.  Of course, they don't do it for long enough to get the Council out to witness it, so there's no point calling.

The irony is it has made me hypersensitive to all the little city centre noises that I'm normally very good at ignoring, or even enjoying.  I find I'm disturbed by sounds I can hardly hear.  Now, for instance, there is just a very faint bass beat that I could easily have blocked out before, but today it brings me close to tears even though I know I'm about to move to another room where I probably won't even hear it.  Even when the neighbours are quiet (ha!) or I'm away from the house, I start worrying about what they might do later, whether I'll be able to work this afternoon or sleep tonight, or tomorrow night.

I hope the Council process will help and I know this is an exceptionally bad group who will leave in the summer - if they don't get themselves evicted before then - but I'm finding it really hard to cope.

If anyone has any suggestions, or just sympathy, I could really use whatever you've got right now.

Comments

[ladymoonray.livejournal.com]

*very big hug*

I firmly believe that there are times and places for big friends with big sticks, and this might be one of them, but I know that not everyone subscribes to this view.

Have you been through all these steps? I've seen this site recommended elsewhere. It might be worth posting your story on the forums there, in case people there have suggestions. They've been through it, they'll understand, and they might have some new ideas.

Does your council have any noise recording equipment they could lend you? That might provide the evidence to ge them arrested for breaking the NAO.

[lj_stowaway]

{{{hugs}}} Huge sympathies heading your way. I am lucky in that my violently noisy neighbors - two of them, both with mental health issues - finally moved out. Until that happened, I found that keeping the radio on low to the classical music station provided a kind of white noise that blocked out the little things. Then I only had to deal with the big ones. Hang in there.

[teenybuffalo.livejournal.com]

Well, bejaysus. That sucks. I have been through similar stuff, though nothing as bad as that. I wish I could go over there and chase them all with a knotty club. Short of that, ladymoonray has the best suggestion.

*snugs the munkie*

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's AWFUL. And scary, too, if they are not only uncooperative but belligerent. ladymoonray and the_stowaway seem to have useful suggestions there, but I do offer you hugs and much sympathy.

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

Thanks. The local noise team seem to be very good. It's just that when warnings have no effect it takes a long time to take someone to court successfully and they need to gather sufficient evidence. We might get recording equipment later on depending on how things work out now they've been served with the Notice. Plus, the Council is contacting the landlord today to try to involve him.

I had a look at the website. It's oddly comforting to read about other people with similar - and worse - problems. Thanks for the link.

The friend and stick would both need to be a lot bigger than any I have available. There are nine of the students, at least seven of them are big lads.

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

Good idea. We've been using various 'relaxing' CDs, quiet music or nature sounds. (I'm not so successful with classical because the beauty of the music can emphasise the ugliness of the noise, but with a bit of wishful thinking, drunken louts can sometimes be passed off as humpback whales, at least until the start swearing.) The trouble is CDs end long before the bastards stop, so radio could be the answer. Radio 3 here I come...

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

I thought the knotty club *was* her suggestion ;)

Snugs appreciated.

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

They've yet to be belligerent to our faces. More like the 14-year old drama queen routine, e.g. "Oh, so now you want us to sit here in the dark and watch TV with the sound off!" But some of what we hear is blood curdling.

Hugs and sympathy really do help. Thank you.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

{{{hugs}}} and a great deal of sympathy. Noise is an invasion even when nobody crosses your threshold: it's horrid to deal with and so difficult to escape.

Is the abuse serious enough, threatening enough, that it'd be worth involving the police? They might take a bit more notice of a constable than of a council officer.

Also, see email.

Also, redeem this comment for one cocktail (need not be pink) in a couple of weeks.

[woolymonkey.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

*Glugs in anticipation*