h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yesterday was a beautiful day,all the family were here,and we spent most of the day out in the garden,just lounging....enjoying the return of the sunshine.We had a visitor in the evening,and it cooled down enough to enjoy the quiet of a summer evening..wonderful!
The neighburs decided to let their children play out,(seven of them,aged between five and a few months,and including twins)so they screamed and shouted (the parents,not the children)until ten p.m.
A few doors away they decided it was cool enough
to start building a wall,and putting up a fence,so they banged and hammered ,and across the road the b b q, all ready at six p.m.,and followed by cans of beer in large amounts..turned in to a football match at around 11p.m.!!!
OUR visitor must have had a busy day...he fell asleep ,and snores with a depth that's second only to my hubby.
He left at
1.30 a.m.,just as the footie across the road was finishing.so we went to bed.Hubby was tired,and went to sleep within minutes,only to start snoring .More .
Am i getting old and miserable,or do i need to move to a house in the middle of a field???
What happened to the peace and tranquility of a lovely summers evening???
Just ignore me,,,i needed another rant!!!

I know what you mean, but I think those 'quiet' summer evenings of the past are an illusion and have never actually been that quiet.

Oh, Smurfles, I do feel for you It is the same here. It used to be so quiet and peaceful, but now the only time I get that is if I get up at 6am to feed the birds. It is lovely then but it doesn't last.

"Silence is golden" seems to be a thing of the past. Even my husband has to have the radio on all the time! I switch it off the minute he goes out, oh, and he snores too, but says he doesn't and that it's me

and the school holidays are coming up, and the night before last someone was letting off a whole batch of fireworks at 10.45pm. and our neighbour has a habit of drilling and hammering on the adjoining wall at 1am and just occasionally they party till 3am!!

Perhaps we are getting old, I don't know. I have always liked peace and quiet, so I don't think it is that. Anyway, perhaps we should both stop ranting, and thank our lucky that we weren't in London on Thursday. Anything would seem quiet after that. Birmingham was on alert last night too, and evacuated but thankfully nothing came of it.

Websailor

B'Elana
You are probably right, but my memories are the sound of the occasional hand pushed lawnmower, children laughing but in bed by 8, the cricket commentary on a neighbour's radio, and the bedtime birdsong.

Any more memories anyone?

Websailor

Websailor, my memories are of long summer nights with me talking to friends in the playground, or having a beer in the beergarden, and once you're part of it, ou don't think it's noisy - it's just when you're not part of it, that it's noisy
I'm reacting more and more allergic to the constant noisy my husband produces by listening to very loud music, or playing PC games at highest volume, I've always hated loud music. Thank god my neighbours are silent.

Smurfles

I fully understand, we have neighbours that open the door to let fresh air in at 6.30am. No big deal you may think initially, but they have 2 parrots and whilst I do not want to wish violence on any animal, I do. They make their loud squawks and it gets piercing, no matter how hot it is you have to shut the windows which doesn't help much and shut the blinds and try to get some more sleep, as teh room slowly heats up.

The parrots often stay out till 11-12pm and I am often in tears.

Car alarms, the bangs from the substation, I can even hear my neighbours in the flats going to the loo. Its too close.

On the bright side, we don't have the singer living downstairs anymore who used to practise at 7am. We still have the guy though who finishes work in the afternoon and plays his music so loudly you can never have a snooze.

If you are like me and sometimes have to sleep in several sessions cause of pain, you need to snooze during the day.

Oh to move and have no neighbours a floor above, below and to all sides.

As you say to the middle of a field! Its the only way, we'll have a field each. Its not age either, people are more noisy and less considerate. Good luck at coping without tears or violence.

Hi Sal
I know how you feel regarding racket. I don't always mind noise, especially not in short bursts, but when it's been cumulative, and gone on ALL DAY, like what you've had, it would drive me to throttle someone. You've got the patience of a saint!!

I'm fortunate to live on a high third floor, above the other two flats in my building and a floor above either of the neighboring houses. So we don't get a lot of outside noise coming in through windows, unless someone's got their radio pounding or if someone squeals their tires.

There is an ice cream truck that comes through evenings during summer, and over here, they have these mechanical chimes that play music (kinda like those annoying clocks which chime the Westminster thingy on the hour). The one that comes down my block parks maybe 150 feet from my doorstep and SITS there, playign that same bloody song over and over- "Pop Goes the Weasel". It's gotten so that "Pop Goes the Weasel" annoys me to blind violence within three notes.

Seriously, though, both my sweetie *and* the cat snore. Most nights it's not loud enough to keep me up, but it can be pretty bad. My former roommate snored so loudly you could hear it halfway down the steps to the floor below. Glad he's gone.

Hope you got a good night's sleep, or at least some restful sleep, in spite of all the racket and aggravation.

Ah! Smurfles, I know what your going through We have had that here for the past 6 yrs! ever since we moved in
It has made our life hell living here, its like living in a zoo! With all the dogs barking day & night, ignorant people screamig & swearing at each other
We cant wait to move out of this area, our only hope is my case being settled, as with me not working any more I couldnt get a mortgage, so we are trapped here

When it gets so bad that we just cant take any more, we jump I our car and just drive away, noramlly to visit one of Mk2s sisters. The one who has the lovely quiet bungalow way out on the outskirts of town, its lovely and quiet there!
So your not alone Smurfles! we are suffering from pig ignorant inconsiderate louts, who seem to be taking over every where they go
Smudger,

We had the firemen pull up at a house across the road last night... They had been called out by some busy body because the neighbour had been trying to burn down the stump of a bush she'd chopped down... The same firemen could have been saving someones life....
All this in the wake of a local 10yr old girl found murdered early Friday morning.... Her family went out in search of her when she didn't return home... Her own Grandfather found her body..
This story has made the nation press... Lauren Pilkimgton-Smith from Leigh in Lancashire... My Mam knows the family well, they live not far from her... Just what is the world coming to?????

It's terrible when children get murdered, but statistically, there are no more child murders today than there were when my parents were children. Some crimes have increased, but child murder is still rare. That doesn't make it any less terrible though.



What is it with blokes and snoring? Why can't they accept that they do it? If a man suggests to his partner that she snores, she apologises, but if a woman suggests that a man snores, he says "no I don't!"

<> If you can find two houses in the middle of a field, let me know and I'll buy the other one.

I'm not entirely sure whether people really are getting noisier and more inconsiderate or if it is just a case of their being more and more of us living closer to one another. I remember quiet summer days and evenings sitting in the garden, but that was years ago before I moved into a busy town. It's not often that I can sit in my garden and hear nothing at all, there is usually a lawn mower buzzing somewhere, or the sound of DIY, sometimes I can hear sirens (hospital not far from here), my neighbours chatting (they don't have to talk loudly, they're only a few feet away) or cats fighting. Ocasionally I can hear children playing but there aren't too many near me (deliberate choice on my part - I would not have bought a house next door to kiddies). It's a fact of life that where there are people, there is noise.

However, the thing that does wind me up though is loud music outside. Now that really is inconsiderate in my book. If I want to listen to music out of doors, I use a walkman. When I hear that hideous 'thud-thud-thud' of some dance music I can actually feel my blood pressure rising.

Liz
~

> When I hear that hideous 'thud-thud-thud' of some dance music I can actually feel my blood pressure rising.<

You and me both, Liz!

I don't mind a lot of "city" sounds or noises, if I did, I'd definitely move from the city.

Living in the middle of a field someone sounds *too* quiet, kind of boring, for my tastes. But there's other noises that get my goat. Like foot-tapping. Or ice cream truck chimes. Or those pounding car stereos. Or neighbors playing their pounding stereos at all hours. I'm plenty cranky!

As for snoring, my sweetie knows he does, and insists that I wake him enough to roll him onto his side when he does. I generally don't even really have to wake him, just whisper in his ear, and it's done.

He has pointed out that when my asthma's bad, I snore a bit. But he claims my (rare) snoring is "cute". What a weirdo.

I sure miss the sounds of nature , being miles from people sitting in the woods.

I am one of those neighbors having workmen here many weekends and nights when people want peace and quiet.

*desperately requests a moment , er maybe a month of silence*

Well i have quiet at the mo my hubby has gone into hospital today to get a replacement knee cap tomorrow no more snoring all the bed to myself but that will only last a couple of days then i'll miss the snoring and the bed will be too big cant get in to see him till thursday night my brother inlaw will take me in by car as i cant travel on puplic transport because of my disabilitys and the hospital is miles away in sterling just glad i still have boxs to unpack so that will keep me busy for awhile xd

Good Luck to your hubby helena9 .
I hate when something happens to a loved one I cannot get myself there right away.

Good you have help,family and something to keep you *busy.
Let us know how it goes for both of you. I hope you can sleep ,being busy helps that too.

Weird how it gets mighty quiet without the usual snoring noises.
*surprised to have awaken myself snoring when hubby is gone*

hi hubbys op went ok only some idiot gave him some painkillers before he went down so on top of the seditive and ansetic(sorry cant spell it) it was hard for them to bring him round which meant he stayed in the recovery room 5 hours which had me very worried when they kept saying he is not back up on the ward yet and i am going in to see him tonight as my brother inlaw has managed to get a car so roll on 6pm xd

Good that part is overhelena9 There are various reasons why people are slow to "wake-up"
I hope he is normal for post operation status.

I bet you are anxious to see him.
I hope there is good news,
Let us know how things are going

*********

All noise that you did not choose is a bit stressful.
I have read women generally have less tolerance for noise but I am not sure I believe it.

During contruction I found the drills to be the worst noise.
Did not mind staple gun , hammer, saw or sanders nearly as much.

I think certain peoples have less tolerance. The older you get , any sort of hearing or pain problems usually lends to less tolerance of other peoples noises.

To me extra noise feels like an unwanted form of over-stimulation.
Even my own wide choices in music are dependant on my mood at any given time.

Abbi I agree with you!

I can't drive to Whitesnake!.. They make me so very angry.. Yet I like them anyother time.. I have a nice tape of Bon Jovi that I can drive to..

My choices for music vary depending on how much noise I'm prepared to handle. I enjoy really loud punk a good deal of the time, but find that lately, for after work on really hot days, some nice psychedelic stuff suits me well.

My tolerance for noie levels decreases as the evening wears on and I get more tired, as well as when my stress levels are high. I have a noisy coworker who talks at the top of his lungs and whistles shrilly a lot, I shout at him to shut up an awful lot. I probably make more noise yelling at him thatn he did to begin with.

By the time I'm ready for bed of an evening, I can't even handle the clothes dryer or dishwasher- it seems to noisy!

That is true, we do seem to need something more relaxing on the nerves as the day draws to a close.

Incidentally, speaking of musical choices for after work when I'm hot and stressed.... the love of my life has just popped the Beastie Boys' "Check Your Head" in to relax me. Isn't he cute?!