Noisy Neighbours

Noisy neighbours are something that I’ve been very fortunate to avoid….until now that is. We stay on the 2nd floor of a 3 storey apartment block and our neighbours next door, on the same level as us, have started driving me very quickly up the wall. There seems to be an endless stream of people coming and going and from my investigative skills (I don’t obsessively watch Criminal Minds for nothing!) I have ascertained that they are students, each just renting a room in the property. They gave us no problems at all until around the middle of summer when everything changed and they have since become affectionately known as “the neighbours from hell!” They began throwing loud parties and these parties are happening outside, on their terrace, which happens to be right beside our bedroom window. Lucky us!

Now, I’m not a total old bore yet; I don’t mind people having parties, even if it is loud and disturbing me, and I especially don’t mind this on special occasions, on holidays, even on weekends I can turn the other cheek. But at 4am on a random Tuesday morning I am so much against them having fun! If the parties were once in a blue moon (even on a random Tuesday) I wouldn’t bat an eyelid but this has been happening so frequently that my patience which was starting to wear thin has now entirely gone.

We have tried putting the light on and opening the blinds to look out, subtly making it clear that they’ve woken us up (we would actually have to be able to sleep in the first place for that…chance would be a fine thing). We’ve opened the window and asked them politely if they can keep the noise down. We’ve since also asked a lot less politely. And finally we’ve resorted to doing something I never thought I’d do, and calling the police to make a noise complaint about them, but hey desperate times call for desperate measures. Yet absolutely nothing has worked. Us asking them, in either polite or less polite forms to be quiet, works for around 3 minutes before they revert back to their usual noisy selves. Calling the police worked for that night, they sheepishly went inside, but only to be back the next night just as loud as before.

July 1st is known as moving day in Montreal (It’s actually Canada Day but the locals here use the  public holiday as their time to move apartments and leases in the city run from July 1st to June 30th.) I watched this date approach with hopeful anticipation, praying to any higher power that would listen to me, to please let them be moving out. It seems that no one heard my prayers as July 1st came and went and they’re still here, still getting louder, and increasing the likelihood that they’re going to feel the full wrath of the crazy Scottish woman who lives next door and it’s not going to be pretty.

If you too suffer from a noisy neighbour I fully feel your pain. Feel free to drop me a message in the middle of the night when you also are wide awake as your noisy neighbours are singing, chatting at a decibel level  that could be heard two streets away and generally making a nuisance of themselves, (or is that just mine?). If on reading this you think that you possibly could be a noisy neighbour please spare a thought for the poor sod next door or upstairs who really doesn’t want to spoil your fun but is just trying to get some sleep. And please, just shut the hell up!