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

Oh, I don't know, I've been in the apartment downstairs and it's not exactly small... the problem is they both seem to get stinking drunk and then run their mouths.

It's the time of night that this stuff was going on, its frequency, and the slamming of doors and screaming at each other in public areas of the building I take issue with. K and I are paying substantial rent in order to avoid all that kind of stuff. And it's certainly not an apartment block- it's a three flat building.

(I also happen to think it's quite possible for adults to communicate with each other without shouting at each other... K and I manage that fine, even when we do disagree, which we do, sometimes. But I won't get into that, or you'll shout at me. )

For what it's worth, what we've borne witness to has been mainly this woman shoving her husband around, locking him out, and standing outside SCREAMING at him... in case anyone was jumping to the conclusion that this is another case of All Men Being Pigs and All Women Being Unduly Mistreated and Persecuted By Said Pigs (which I happen to think is a load of sh*t a good deal of the time anyway).

And you just know they're acting like fools like this in front of their young children (one of them's about 6, the other around 2).

Hmm; have to say i have thrown viking out & screamed at him in the street, but Not All Men Are Pigs, in fact he wasn't being a pig, just bloody stupid & obstinate, certainly not violent; he would never be that.

I suppose it's one of the main reasons i stubbornly hang onto this impractical little house, it's MY front door & i can let in or chuck out whoever i like. And the walls are about 2ft thick & no neighbours on one side & nice neighbours on the other.

The law on noise here is that after 10pm, if anybody objects even once, you have to keep stereo etc down, a second objection can be taken to court. But as to "domestic issues"; it's down to the neighbour deciding "somebody is at risk of harm" so they have a legal duty to phone the cops if they think that. Which damn well gives feuding partners a shock.

zdt

Well, I'm certainly no advocate of people wailing on each other, I think you know this about me already, though. But I do feel that fully-grown, mentally competent (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) adults are for the most part capable of and responsible for their own lifestyle choices. So if two people with hot tempers and drinking problems decide to get married and make each other's lives hell, that's their prerogative. None of my business!

But yeah, keep the noise down late at night so that everyone else doesn't have to be in on the affair.

*creeps up silently behind errant partner & muffles his screams whilst torturing him horribly*

The "if you suspect someone's life is in danger, you have a civil duty to phone the police" law can go badly wrong, a couple i know were making mad passionate love very happily at midnight until half a ton of flics burst through the door.....

zdt

>The "if you suspect someone's life is in danger, you have a civil duty to phone the police" law can go badly wrong<

Yep. That's why I'm hesitant to involve the police. That, and I don't need neighbors p*ssed off with me for nosing into their business.

How often does it happen? If it's just once a week or so, you may have to just accept it's part of the price you inevitably pay for urban living.

When i lived with next door were a brother & sister couple of severe alcy types, screamed & threw bottles every night from 2am to 4am

*stop press* here's a perfect example, stopped typing after that 'cos i heard screaming type noises outside, went to see what's happening. Some skinhead type guy is in the road pinned down by another guy, hysterical female wandering around, all the neighbours now coming out, someone's phoned the flics. Apparently the skinhead "agressed" the woman, so somebody immediately took action. They have a VERY low tolerance here for agression against women & children & street justice means this is what happens, someone will jump the guy, hold him down, punch him if he so much as moves, meanwhile police get summoned.

It seems to work.

But in general, if there is a commotion, people don't hesitate, they call the flics & let them sort it, i have done so myself before now. it's unsettling, but better than risking someone being bashed to bits. The positive side of French men being ultra sensitive is they are also ultra protective towards women, apart from the odd loony, who ends up lying on the tarmac with a large angry guy pinning him down & a crowd of people watching & calling him scum.

They've taken him away now, everybody has gone back home to have a nice soothing!

zdt

>you may have to just accept it's part of the price you inevitably pay for urban living<

Hmmm... luckily I have a lease, and that kind of racket is a violation of said lease. I spoke with the landlord a while ago, and he said he'll let them know that if they keep creating disturbances of that nature, they will have to find someplace else to live. He doesn't want to lose his good tenants! So, that's taken care of. Phew!

Where you live, things sure work differently. I'm kind of glad I'm here, where there's really no worry about other people interfering. I don't think I'd want to live in a place where the assumption that, or accusation thereof, someone has been aggressive to another person warrants that person being assaulted. That's awful- I'd be afraid to leave the house!

If I see/hear something that I *know* is seriously wrong, I'll call the police, but I sure as hell ain't butting in! What if I'm wrong and the person doing the crying is the aggressor? As I say, in this situation, it's the woman who's the cause of the problems.

>When i lived with next door were a brother & sister couple of severe alcy types, screamed & threw bottles every night from 2am to 4am<

That's awful. How long did you have to endure that for? I'd have moved out, if the landlord wouldn't get rid of them.

Speaking of not being able to sleep in the middle of the night...

It went on for the entire year i lived withThe social work lot kept going round to no avail.I did in fact end up calling the flics one particular time when it seemed even worse than usual, they ticked them off but that was about it, domestic stuff is pretty impossible to deal with if no one brings charges.

We couldn't move 'cos it was the only place we could afford, it was cheap rent 'cos in a "difficult" area.

When i left there, i lived in an apartment & got threatened by the guy upstairs 'cos i had the nerve to talk on the phone after 10pm (in my own apartment, not a communal phone)which i reckon is going a bit too far in the other direction!

zdt