ionetics

Unreliable and possibly off-topic

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Friday, September 19, 2008

Downstairs Neighbour kicks off again

Hi [ion]
I'm writing to let you know that, unfortunately, I've been getting woken up
again during the night by what sounds like a TV or possibly a radio. Its
happened several times over the last month, last night being the most recent
occurrence. I've tried using ear plugs but they don't always block it out
completely. Any chance you could turn it down a bit next time or perhaps use
headphones?
Thanks a lot,
[Downstairs Neighbour]


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This marks the start of the end of my patience and consideration for DN. I've been extremely considerate since his first complaint and have made considerable behavioural and furnishing changes to accommodate his low threshold for noise. Now I'm realising that he will never be satisfied.

There's been no change in the volume settings of my TV or radio since I moved in 8 years ago, and I am not deaf (yet). I have always slept with either BBC2 TV or BBC World Service radio on low-volume all night since a kid, because the spoken word lulls me to sleep.

For the last 6 months I've removed my shoes on entry into my home, shushed the kids when they shout, reined back their natural spontaneous galloping locomotions, but it's never enough. I discovered that Environmental Health cannot find objectively excessive noise in his flat, and DN and I have discussed that he may possess ultra-sensitive hearing or a low arousal response, for which I have done my utmost to cater.

Enough is enough. I spend more mental effort offering DN consideration than I do my own family. It's getting time DN recognised that he has an endogenous problem.

We do not play techno music, have wild parties (I should be so lucky) or practice flamenco, though we would be quite entitled to do so should we choose. DN- you had a problem with noise before I moved in and you'd have the same or worse with any new neighbour except a corpse.

DN should sound-proof his room, or alternatively move to an isolated detached house in a rural setting, when he will develop a new sensitivity to morning birdsong, electro-magnetic radiation, or a full-blown total-allergy syndrome. The problem lies with him, although he will always ascribe it to his environment.