Noisy Neighbors

It probably isn't appropriate to blog on the Sabbath, but I have to vent some frustration. Plus, both Petunia and Chunk have a bit of the sniffles, so we both decided to keep them away from spreading the wealth at church.

We've always had a struggle with one of our neighbors and their loud parties in the past. On a regular basis, they always invite friends over and sit out on their back deck to visit, which we have a direct line of sight (and sound) to from our upstairs. Last night was no exception. They actually started early around 8:00 PM and had kids jumping on the tramp making all kinds of noises. While this didn't necessarily bug us, the weather cooled down enough to allow us to finally open some windows for some fresh air, and the noise was especially loud.

The party continued well into the night, with people yelling, laughing loud, and dropping all sorts of F-bombs and other vulgarities. The Wife would try to yell out the window for them to please keep it down, but either they didn't hear us, or just plain ignored us (the most likely scenario). Just after midnight, The Wife and I just couldn't take it anymore. I stormed over there (fearing for my life because of the caliber of individuals involved) and told them as nice as I could to please keep it down. The resident feigned ignorance ("What? Too noisy? I had no idea!"..Please!) He didn't even apologize, but I came away unscathed and relieved that no other confrontation took place.

It was effective to a point, because soon after my return, they all went inside (or so we thought). It was quiet for about 5 minutes, and then we heard the same annoying chatter coming from the FRONT of their house, as loud as ever.

That was the last straw. We called police dispatch to report a disturbance of the peace, and I watched intently for the cops arrival. It was just our luck that the front sprinklers came on and drove them all inside. Around 1 AM I saw a cop car pull into our neighborhood and park a few houses down, lights off, so as to not raise suspicion, then watched intently as the officer approached the house. I wasn't in a position to hear if he actually made contact with the people inside, but it did my heart good to know that they were on the case. It must have either been a slow night for the police or serious enough to call for backup, because I saw another squad car arrive and meet up with the first officer. They spent some time chatting in their squad cars, then one of them drove by, spotlighting the cars parked in front to check things out, but no other activity ensued (thank goodness) and the police left. Shortly after 1:30, the party broke up and everyone left, leaving our neighborhood quiet and peaceful once again.

Surprisingly enough, both Petunia and Chunk slept through all of this.

I love our neighborhood, with the exception of these characters. Every neighborhood has people like them. The wife and I admit that we are homebodies. We don't do alot of socializing around the neighborhood, which is fine by us. I consider myself one who goes the extra mile to make people feel comfortable and at ease, and I guess I just don't understand why people can be so inconsiderate sometimes. That really gets to me. In a way, I'm glad we did what we did, because I did something that I never thought i'd have to do. I guess it's good to get out of your comfort zone every once in a while. When it happens again (and I can guarantee it will), I don't think I'll be the least bit nervous about reporting them again. Hopefully, they'll get a clue.