Saturday 12 September 2009

New neighbour gets 'stoned' so often he's driving me to drink.

This morning, repeat morning, at o5.10, there was the clear sound of the non-dulcet tones of Mr Jagger - sorry, SIR Michael Jagger - drawling out 'Honky Tonk Woman' coming from below. Luckily this was around the time I get up anyway so I personally didn't suffer too much - but the neighbours? Actually the volume was probably about what one might expect in the daytime, but at that unearthly hour when everything else is near-silent, well.......
He's been ensconced below me for 3 1/2 weeks now - and it's not been a dull time, to put a spuriously fine complexion on it. Every evening at some point there's high-volume sound of his record-playing (he's a great fan of the 'Stones') or TV/radio. When he's got the telly on it's so loud that if I found his channel I could mute my own set and watch it using his sound. And it's not only that - he's constantly talking to himself (or his dog), sometimes yelling - even late into the night. He clearly has a problem with drink but, as far as I can tell, is getting no help over it. He probably doesn't even realise the commotion he's causing. To be fair there are times, lasting a day at most, when he's so quiet that I think he's turned over a new leaf, but then each time so far my hopes have been confounded. He's clearly oblivious or just couldn't care about the disruption to the lives of others. About a week ago I was awoken around 3 a.m. by his hammering - as though he was assembling furniture or something. This went on for about an hour. Then the night before last heard him going out at 11.30 p.m. slamming doors as loud as if it was deliberate. (I normally retire around 9-9.30) He returned half an hour later in same loud fashion, went out again (likewise) and then couple of hours later came back, with the same 'fanfare' of slamming doors. My sleep had been so inadequate that yesterday I tried no less than 5 times to catch up on it, only finally succeeeding with the help of a large Jack Daniels. Not good for my health - and sanity. At least one particular neighbour is also suffering, with her 12-year old daughter using the room directly neighbouring his living room as her temporary bedroom. Neighbour tells me that this guy's every drunken word can be heard from there. (I normally just hear mumblings unless he's really firing on all cylinders, which, admittedly, isn't every day.) She's trying to approach my landlord who seems to be avoiding her. But he knows the situation from me - and doesn't want to get involved. As long as he's not actually breaking up the place, it seems, it's up to me to ask him gently to "keep the noise down". (Quote: "I'm not a social worker!") I don't know if my landlord has ever asked a guy who's frequently sloshed to 'act reasonably'. Being the lily-livered person that I am who just wants a quiet life, I don't want to say anything to him for fear of retaliation not just against me but to my two pussies who are already scared out of their little wits in seeing his huge dog in the garden below, so close - the very spot where they, until he arrived, could doze in the sun undisturbed. So what to do? I'm just hoping that somehow things will move on by themselves, such as him putting a brick through his own window (not mine, please) so that the landlord tells him to move out. Ain't I the coward? Now I've just heard him coming in downstairs, with an ear-cracking door slam. (Great!) Developments will be chronicled.

4 comments:

  1. Oh Ray, what a pickle you're in. I think you are doing the right thing so far. Dealing with alcoholics can be hazardous as their responses are entirely unpredictable. During his quiet times, is he even at home? Perhaps passed out?

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  2. Thanks for your empathy, Larry. Last night turned out to be one of the worst so far - starting around 8 p.m. (with 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' this time!) going on for a couple of hours followed by his turning it off but then shouting for a good while interspersed with manic laughter. I couldn't make out what he was saying, let alone doing, but I only hope his big, beautiful dog wasn't involved. It was pretty scary and I was hoping he'd drop off to sleep, which he eventually did. I knew he was still there - his exits and entrances are always noisy. So yes, in his 'quiet times' he is often still there, having drunk himself into oblivion. I only hope the lady next door was as disturbed as I was and will make further efforts to confront the landlord. Bleak times indeed.

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  3. I've dealt with noisy neighbors in the past, but I've never had any as extreme as yours. I really feel for you and your companions as the noise is so traumatic for them. Just let me say that you've got to deal with this no matter how difficult it will be for you, otherwise you'll have no quality of life. I know, I was once like that also. I eventually realized that I won't permit scum like that to rule my life. Wishing the best for you and yours.

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  4. Thanks Paul, but I'm trapped in so many ways. I don't have the financial resources to move somewhere else even if I could find a place - it would anyway have to be somewhere where I'm allowed to have two cats and with space for them to roam. Until somone else faces out the landlord he'll look on ME as the unreasonable one. In fact I'm wondering if his reluctance to say anything to this chap could be that he already knew him. Another friend of mine tells me that people with this guy's sort of behaviour are too restless to settle in any one place for a long time, and reckons he'll be gone within a few weeks. Can but hope.

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