A week ago, along with all our neighbours, we got a letter from the people who live opposite to us, announcing that they were going to have a 50th birthday party. 'There will be music in the garden from 2-30, and we will switch this off at 11.00p.m., when we will ask everyone to come indoors.'
Oh dear, we thought. what we're we supposed to do about this? Go away overnight? Somewhat like those notices on motorways warning of 'Roadworks ahead' - i.e, major disruption you can't do anything about except get irritated in advance. The letter didn't have any hint of an apology, or any invitation for neighbours to come round and have a drink at the party. The arrival of portable loos suggested that plenty of beer had been ordered in.
It was far worse than we could have imagined. The 'music in the garden' consisted of a stage at one end, housing a disc jockey and two enormously powerful speakers, plus flashing lights all over the trees. It did indeed start up in the afternoon and continued relentlessly for hours on end, all through the evening, during which time the road was blocked by people parking, arriving - and presumably, in due course, pissing in the toilet. It totally permeated our house indoors, with doors and double glazed windows shut. The 'music' was the heavy metal sort consisting of a monotonous bass rhythm and no musical complexity or improvisation. I believe this type was used at full blast in Abu Graibe on suspects being tortured by the Americans, and is banned as torture under the Geneva convention.
At about 10.30, the music seemed to be getting even louder, so we walked the dog along to see what was going on through the hedge. Unbelievably, the music got louder as we got to the back garden, because some of the noise was blocked by their house facing ours. At the back, it was literally at fairground volume, hence even worse for people in the houses on that side. Through the hedge we could see the setup, music and lights - but nobody was out there dancing, and by that stage all but three of the parked cars had departed. Oh good, we thought, the party is on its last legs, the DJ has been hired until 11.00 and will want to close down and go home then. So we hunkered down and gritted our teeth and waited for 11.00. so we could go to bed.
At 11.20, we tried ringing them but they weren't answering the phone. My husband decided enough was enough and went round to ask them to turn off the music. No response to the doorbell, so he made his knuckles sore by knocking on the door,- to no avail, so he used the bottom of a bottle to bash on the door really loudly. Eventually the birthday boy appeared, in belligerent mood, and said he 'thought he had been a bit naïve when he put 11.00 on the letter' and he had no intention of stopping the music ' until at least midnight''. He then went off into a long ramble about how long he had lived there and said 'and I've got a degree in Chemistry, you know.'
So Tony came home and I rang the police, who were very helpful, except that they said they couldn't do anything 'if it was just noise', and advised us to get in touch with the Council Environmental Health dept. Despite my saying I didn't think I would get anywhere at 11.30 at night, he insisted on giving me the telephone number to ring.
Midnight eventually came. At 12.10 the music stopped. We couldn't get to sleep very well at first because it was too quiet. However, we were woken up again around 2-3 a.m by the owners of the three parked cars merrily departing. Unfortunately, there wasn't a cop car around, to breathalyse them!
Oh dear, we thought. what we're we supposed to do about this? Go away overnight? Somewhat like those notices on motorways warning of 'Roadworks ahead' - i.e, major disruption you can't do anything about except get irritated in advance. The letter didn't have any hint of an apology, or any invitation for neighbours to come round and have a drink at the party. The arrival of portable loos suggested that plenty of beer had been ordered in.
It was far worse than we could have imagined. The 'music in the garden' consisted of a stage at one end, housing a disc jockey and two enormously powerful speakers, plus flashing lights all over the trees. It did indeed start up in the afternoon and continued relentlessly for hours on end, all through the evening, during which time the road was blocked by people parking, arriving - and presumably, in due course, pissing in the toilet. It totally permeated our house indoors, with doors and double glazed windows shut. The 'music' was the heavy metal sort consisting of a monotonous bass rhythm and no musical complexity or improvisation. I believe this type was used at full blast in Abu Graibe on suspects being tortured by the Americans, and is banned as torture under the Geneva convention.
At about 10.30, the music seemed to be getting even louder, so we walked the dog along to see what was going on through the hedge. Unbelievably, the music got louder as we got to the back garden, because some of the noise was blocked by their house facing ours. At the back, it was literally at fairground volume, hence even worse for people in the houses on that side. Through the hedge we could see the setup, music and lights - but nobody was out there dancing, and by that stage all but three of the parked cars had departed. Oh good, we thought, the party is on its last legs, the DJ has been hired until 11.00 and will want to close down and go home then. So we hunkered down and gritted our teeth and waited for 11.00. so we could go to bed.
At 11.20, we tried ringing them but they weren't answering the phone. My husband decided enough was enough and went round to ask them to turn off the music. No response to the doorbell, so he made his knuckles sore by knocking on the door,- to no avail, so he used the bottom of a bottle to bash on the door really loudly. Eventually the birthday boy appeared, in belligerent mood, and said he 'thought he had been a bit naïve when he put 11.00 on the letter' and he had no intention of stopping the music ' until at least midnight''. He then went off into a long ramble about how long he had lived there and said 'and I've got a degree in Chemistry, you know.'
So Tony came home and I rang the police, who were very helpful, except that they said they couldn't do anything 'if it was just noise', and advised us to get in touch with the Council Environmental Health dept. Despite my saying I didn't think I would get anywhere at 11.30 at night, he insisted on giving me the telephone number to ring.
Midnight eventually came. At 12.10 the music stopped. We couldn't get to sleep very well at first because it was too quiet. However, we were woken up again around 2-3 a.m by the owners of the three parked cars merrily departing. Unfortunately, there wasn't a cop car around, to breathalyse them!
... a really classy one with champagne until dawn 