Sunday, February 14, 2010

Neighbor Rant

Usually I can blow off bothersome neighbors with a dismissive whatever.

But, crap, after last night, I'm thinking about what the heck things are going to be like around here in 2 months when I have a newborn to care for.

We live in an older, established neighborhood. Narrow streets and property lots that are much less than 1/4 acre in size. Several months ago, a group of young people moved into the house directly across the street from us. I haven't actually met them, I am not sure how many of them there are, but I can say that every stinking day there are are 4 to 6 vehicles parked between their driveway, in front of their house and in front of our house.

I hate looking out my window every day to see vehicles parked on the street in front of my house. Pet peeve.

So last night, around 2:30 a.m., slamming car doors and loud voices woke up my dogs, who immediately begin barking. I lurched into a sitting position - which is not easy given my large belly protrusion. I was trying to shush my dogs as the voices outside - probably less than 100 feet from my window, shout and carry on. More car door slamming. Then, a siren? I thought, oh, cool, cops? Arriving to give them citations for disturbing my peace?

But no....those f***ing idiots have some sort of siren installed in their truck - that was parked outside my bedroom window - and a bullhorn to boot! Oh yes, a bullhorn. Loud siren whirrs were followed by girls' voices, which suddenly boomed forth on a loudspeaker. Cursing at someone. Drunk. More slamming doors.

You know, part of me wanted to march outside and ask WTF is wrong with them. But I don't want my tires slashed, or a drunken fist in my face (or worse, in my belly). Who knows what people are capable of.

I peeked out the window, debating whether to call the police myself, as two more people got into the truck. And then they drove off. I finally got back to sleep.

Two hours later, at 4:30 a.m., more car door slamming, more voices, then silence. My dogs barked again. I lurched upright again. These people come and go at all hours. They party, they have company, they carry on and they wake me up.

I am envisioning their noise, plus my barking dogs waking up my newborn who just fed and went back to sleep. I am envisioning getting no sleep whatsoever. Summer is coming - warm weather and people wanting to be outside more often. Parties and drinking. I am envisioning leaving piles of dog poop on their windshields, front door step and even throwing loads of it up onto their roof. In the summer. I am envisioning blasting some Ne il D iamond music outside thier bedroom windows at, say, 8 am, when surely they are deep in slumber.

This morning I told my husband we may need to move the bedroom to the room at the back of the house - even though that room is way to small and is hot in the summer.

I am fed up, sleep deprived and angry.
...

13 comments:

anofferingoflove said...

we had neighbors like that recently (they just moved away, thank goodness!). i say, call the police when they are being loud. its not cool for them to be making such a rukus at 4am.
...so, so annoying.

Eb said...

oh man, so sorry. there is nothing worse than loud and inconsiderate neighbors. We have one upstairs but thanks the board she has been told to keep it down.

I hope you find some way to work it out with them or this was a one off. If not, call the police to find out how they suggest you deal with it (and to register a complaint) and so they know you have the potential problem.

Oh so sorry. Hope you get some sleep tonight.
Eb

Christina said...

So sorry about your neighbors! We had the same problem before we moved out of town. We were in a rental near a college, so we were surrounded by obnoxious drunken college students! I was so happy to move! The cops got to know us very well--I wouldn't hesitate to call and we also had many mornings where the carpet needed vacuuming at 7AM--just because it made me feel better about waking up the A-holes below us :).

I hope you get some sleep!

Gwynn said...

Love the idea of blasting ND!! That's fantastic. Nothing says shut the f#*k up like blasting Love on the Rocks.

If it's any consolation, you won't have to worry about all the noise waking up the baby until he is about 3 months old. They're not aware of their surroundings enough until that age and could fall asleep at a Nascar race if they had to. It's you that's going to need all the sleep you can get, so maybe program the cops into your speed dial now. Or if you're still stickin' with the poop idea, don't worry between the dogs and the baby you'll soon have plenty to "give away".

Gwynn said...

p.s. Just saw your puppy's V-day picture. Sooooo cute!!!

cindyhoo2 said...

Grrrr, very annoying. Have you thought about leaving a polite note on their door (when they are not home)? Just a kind reminder that most people have regular jobs and do not enjoy being wakend every couple of hours. Then if they choose not to tell their pals to pipe down, no surprise when the police are called. :) If that doesn't work I love the Neil Diamond blaring idea. I am thinking 5:30-6 AM would be most irksome.

Lorraine said...

Grrrr - we have the lousy neighbor problem, too. Which is why we're moving. But we wouldn't have decided to basically double our property taxes if it hadn't been for the drive-by shootings and the fact that we can't open our windows all summer unless we want a non-stop contact high.

We (and all the neighbors) call the cops all the time, and they send out their community officer to give them a little lecture about being a good neighbor. I don't think they have ever been cited.

And go for the Neil! But make sure you know what the noise-restriction ordinances are. Here we have an 8:30 am rule for outside decibels above a certain limit (like leaf blowers). I say, 8:31 am seems like a good time for a major hoe-down...

Anonymous said...

I agree that you should call the cops on em! What a bunch of jerks.

Although THAT sort of noise is totally unacceptable - I think many people train their babies to wake at the slightest noise by keeping things super quiet. (I realize every child is different, so take this with a grain of salt!) We never worried about keeping quiet when D went down for sleep, and he can sleep through anything. In fact they recommend taking a baby to the mall or a loud place if they aren't falling asleep (apparently it is really loud in the womb)

Of course these are my own experiences - you will do what is best for your baby (hopefully without those awful neighbors!)

Fran said...

Totally call the cops!!! I hate that sort of stuff, so rude and I'm sure your other neighbours must feel the same! Can you lobby with them and see what happens? Are they renting the house? If so I'm sure you can call the landlord and complain!! Thinking of you, Fran

looking4#3 said...

I have some of the best neighbors, so I really can't relate to yours. However, I would definitely be calling the cops about the noise level. I would think that people who are so inconsiderate, could also be the ones who are stupid enough to get behind the wheel when drinking. Wouldn't it have been great if you called the cops for the noise level and someone got hauled off for DUI!!! Now that would be a lesson.
Anyway, I say, call, call frequently, call often and let the cops be an annoyance to them!!!!
Get some sleep--and as for the baby--once he comes home, be as loud as you can be. That was one of the best pieces of advice I was given by my pediatrician. Make noise, run the vacuum, play the radio, let the phone ring, run the washing machine, dishwasher and talk!!! Your LO will will sleep through anything.

Jersey Beth said...

My neighbor has recently started feeding the voltures. Yeah, those HUGE creepy birds that eat dead rotting meat. I had 10 on them perched in the trees around my house yesterday.
But at least they are quiet.
Keep the cops on speed dial.
Beth

AshPash said...

Oh my gosh, I would have been furious! I agree, best not to take on drunks who might get violent.

Anonymous said...

Ugh! I'm hoping that this is only an isolated incident. Even if the loud noises wouldn't bother an infant, they most certainly would bother me, and in a sleep deprived new mom state, the last thing you need is even less sleep! Here's hoping it's something that you don't even have to worry about in the future!