Bit of background first…(and sorry to ramble)

Have always had little or no trouble getting to sleep…might have to read a book, but would start to nod off after a few pages – sleeping soundly till morning. I’ve never had problems rising early, especially during the Summer – in fact I’d look forward to getting up an hour or so before I’d need to leave so I could listen to the radio, have a couple of coffees, surf the night before’s fight on STW 🙂 etc etc. Giving myself plenty of time to get out of the house, beat the traffic and be ready to start work at or before 8 o’clock.

However, for the last 9 months to a year, I cannot get out of bed in the morning and when I do, I’m absolutely zombie-like; I can’t get myself organised in time and keep ending up leaving ten minutes later than I planned; generally pissed off and grumpy. Mrs deadly is getting mightily cheesed off with morning-DD 😡

Anyway, trying to pin all this down and it pretty much corresponds to our neighbours moving in – they’re nice kids but by christ are they loud! One of them is pretty much on his mobile phone all day long and you know how people talk loudly when they’re on their mobile? Well, imagine someone who’s already loud, and then amplify that a bit. They’re also up till all hours watching tv, the sound of which we can hear clearly because they’ve squeezed it into the bay beside the chimney (terraced house with adjoining chimneys). So, when I go to bed, I can either hear them a) watching telly, b) on the phone or c) just generally chatting REALLY **** LOUDLY or singing REALLY **** LOUDLY.

I had to take to listening to podcasts etc shortly after they moved in to get to sleep because if I lie there, the noise just seems to get louder and louder and louder and louder the more I try to shut it out. Would the fact that I’m falling asleep listening to podcasts, which probably then continue on for 15 or 20 mins after I nod off be messing with my sleep?

I don’t want to turn this into a “neighbours” thread, but they’re really driving me up the wall…is it acceptable to just say, “Hey guys, any chance that post 11 o’clock, you just just turn the tv down, or whisper (only joking) to one another? Like I said, they’re actually nice kids and whether I like them or not anyway, I’d rather just get on with people. I don’t relish the conflict. I have mentioned once or twice that it might be nice of them to turn the tv down very late at night. The couple that lived there before were pretty chaotic and noisy but, it would stop at 10.30 – 11.00 pm and then be quiet, which I was fine with.

Any suggestions? I’m at the end of my tether with this one. Mrs deadly now sleeps with earplugs – something I can’t manage to do 🙁 I don’t mind hearing people living their lives but not at all hours.

Again, sorry to ramble on…

Options not available at the moment include moving to a detached house, weeing in shoes, bombers, nuking from orbit etc etc.

ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Funny how old age creeps up isn’t it?

Just talk to them,they may not realise they are bothering you.

Ear plugs…?

You need to go next door with a really cool, sound attitude and just tell them whats happening. Be nice, friendly and wotnot, most people respond to that.

Okay, I tried to read it all again… have you thought of ear plugs? 😉

I’ve tried earplugs – can’t get on with them. 🙁

🙁 Have you been more stressed than normal during this time? Work etc?

Speaking to them would be a start. If that fails and you don’t like earplugs then you add some sound insulation. Its not actually that expensive and an easy DIY.

add some sound insulation.

To be honest, it’s the bleedin’ chimney that’s the problem. The walls are fine.

On particularly bad nights they’ve managed to keep the neighbours on the other side up too.

I think we need a baby 🙂

Talk to them.

Years ago we lived in an old loft and our neighbours above walked around in their shoes all the time on parquet floor which made a hell of a noise. Mrs LHS who is a lot more decisive than I went up and spoke to them about it and low and behold they refrained from wearing their shoes around the house.

The loud sex noises wasn’t something we felt we could talk to them about though!

What type of ear plugs you tried? I prefer the wax ones to the foam ones as you forget they are in pretty quickly.

I think we need a baby

Bit drastic… you’re in Bristol right?
Why not do what I’ve done and lost a lot of my hearing by standing next to speakers at D&B or Dubstep nights… Bristol is good for both.

Does anyone think that listening to an mp3 player to get to sleep is a bad idea?

Thanks TSY, you’ve been more helpful than normal.

Joking aside DD, it is something that will take time to get used to. We moved from a secluded little house to a street corner semi and I spent 6 months feeling like I was living on an airport runway, with the teenage kids next door educating me in their musical tastes through the wall.

Take your time…

I very often listen to my ipod to get to sleep and it’s dead quite where I live.

The trouble is, once their noise becomes a trigger for stress, it becomes self fulfilling, as you anticipate the noise and start to get stressed.
We had issues with our old neighbours and it became such that every activity of theirs would start to get me stressed out.
We moved…..
Although we live in a semi detached house, the other side has been unoccupied since dec. Im dreading the day when the new neighbours move in. Probably for no reason, but its so nice and quiet, I don’t want to lose that.
I’d try and have a quiet chat with them, nothing confrontational and see how it goes.

Does anyone think that listening to an mp3 player to get to sleep is a bad idea?

I do, no doubt someone else will post that its a brilliant idea but I don’t think masking one noise with another is going to be healthy.

Most people are reasonable… if I was keeping my neighbours awake at night, I’d want to know about it so I could stop. My guess is that you’re stressing over nothing.

If they’re nasty about it I don’t mind being big spoon if it helps.

The trouble is, once their noise becomes a trigger for stress, it becomes self fulfilling, as you anticipate the noise and start to get stressed.

I couldn’t agree more dude!

I don’t think masking one noise with another is going to be healthy.

This is what I was thinking too.

You certain its the neighbours? Do they make loads of noise at night (Between 11pm and 7am)?

White noise generator?

Talking to them doesn’t have to be confrontational. They might be sitting there going “well, it must be alright, or they’d have said something.”

If you get on, invite them over for a cuppa and a chat?

Nuke from orbit – it’s the only way.

I would explain the situation and if they stil don’t change their behaviour, rent your house out to goths and rent somewhere nice.

There is a diffeence between polite and nice, nice people are considerate, polite people just pretend to be!

Does anyone think that listening to an mp3 player to get to sleep is a bad idea?

i often sleep with the radio on sometimes not never noticed any difference in quality of sleep tbh
i think stress may be the issue talk to neighbours if that fails take up early am drumming

There is a diffeence between polite and nice, nice people are considerate, polite people just pretend to be!

I know what you mean. We’ve recently moved to a fairly big semi with pretty thick walls. We are not quiet (two small boys who are into jumping, shrieking, fighting etc etc) although we try our hardest to minimise the noise at unsociable hours. Pretty much every time we see our neighbours we apologise for the noise we must, must be causing. They just keep saying that they can’t hear us which just can’t be true. Don’t know them well enough to call whether they are being considerate and nice or just polite. Hope it’s the former.

As long as it’s pre-eleven o’clock, I couldn’t really care less…it’s just the noise after that that bugs me. I think the suggestions that it’s stress are probably right. I know that when I’m sitting watching tv and thinking about going to bed, I start getting ratty as I hear his voice booming out on yet another mobile phone conversation 🙂 Maybe I just didn’t want to admit that it was getting to me that much. 🙁

1/4 to 1/2 a bottle of whisky half an hour before retiring?

if you’ve got a tv and dvd/blu-ray player in your bedroom may i suggest any bbc nature david attenborough program on a sleep timer to fall asleep to? nice soft voice, nothing too stimulating.. classical music as a score underneath and a descriptive narative so you can imagine whats going on on the screen and shut your eyes instead of sitting up/straining to watch it….

its what i’ve done nearly every single night for over 5 years now. i know the script of ‘life’, ‘blue planet’, ‘planet earth’ and ‘the secret life of plants’ off-by-heart but that makes it even easier to fall asleep to.

or as my old school friend tom used to suggest: “beer, spliff and a cheeky tug”

dd – yes, these things can really affect you. My house has no soundproofing and subsequently get woken up at all hours by next door’s screaming baby.

I can hear them talking, especially on the phone, doors being closed, baby screaming during the day too.

It’s horrible and you have my sympathy!

Have you tried reading a really dull book?

I’ve heard riding 31laps of AS is helpful for getting you to sleep and de-stressing 😉

You have my sympathy too – my neighbours are awful too, and the women constantly shouts/argues. I ended up putting a letter through their door, detailing what i’d heard / when as it was so bad, and saying i’d be in touch with the noise people at the council if they didn’t shut up. It worked, but they are just generally noisy. I’m moving soon and looking forward to some peace!

I don’t get on with earplugs either, but have tried bioears and they work really well – can’t hear a thing with them on and they stay in too. Might be worth trying?

reminds me why i moved into the country …. unfortunantly looks like i have to move back to town soon 🙁

my old upstairs neighbour was deaf when it came to phone calls but soon as i got on the turbo her hearing came back ….. used to stick the washing machine on at the same time in the end 😉

then there was the drug dealer 2 doors up with his dustbin exhaust on his bmw 335 in the middle of the night.

I’ll give some of the new fangled ear plugs a try…

Awake again last night at getting on for 1 o’clock listening to their tv. The News Quiz on R4 sent me off though with a few giggles 🙂

Knackered again today.

DGOAB – I’m afraid it’s official, not a chance I can make it I’m afraid 🙁