Bad Neighbours

[Iun]

No, not a thread on the declining quality of everybody's favourite Australian soap, rather an open forum on the "People Next Door Who Piss You Off".

 

I'll start...

 

Mrs Iun and I were fortunate enough to be able to buy an apartment last year in Shanghai, just before the prices skyrocketed (1sqm last year was 19500 RMB, now more than 33000RMB).

 

It's a totally new development - they hadn't finished building when we bought it so we couldn't see inside or anything. But the pictures looked nice. Anyway, these things are bought as a shell - you get the windows and the outside door, a free shitty sink in the kitchen and a toilet plus on tap. Oh, and a lightbulb. Yay.

 

So the whole process of decorating starts from putting the plumbing in and then the electrics... underfloorboards... then the kitchen, tiles in the bathroom... right up to the last point, which is the actual floorboards.

 

We got the keys in February and started the process of buying and putting everything in, took about two months in total. Leave the place to stand for another two months, then we moved in in July. Pretty cool.

 

The FIRST night, the people above us had the TV on so loud it was like we were standing in front of it. And then - and this is the best part - they were talking OVER the TV, which basically means shouting. Hilarious. Went up there, politely asked them to quiet down, they did.

 

Up until about three weeks ago not a peep. Then suddenly, all hell breaks loose, and it's usually around 11pm that it breaks: circular saws cutting wood; angle grinders on metal, stiletto heels on stone floors and incessant flushing of toilets. The rules are between 8am and 8pm you can do any decorating necessary, but after then, you gotta shush.

 

The first time, we left a polite note on the door, as they didn't open when we knocked (about 45 seconds after the drill finally stopped). We mentioned it to the apartment manager who said he spoke with the neighbours last night: they said it couldn't possibly be them as they had already FINISHED the decorating process.

 

Oh, ok. Great, peace and quiet!

 

Oh... wait... no.

 

Two weeks ago it was 10pm, which is bedtime for us (I get up every day at 5.30) and there came the sound of some stuff being dragged across the floor. Once is okay for a minute or so.

 

Yeah... this shit didn't stop for ten minutes. So up I went, knocked on the door. Turns out they speak fluent English (lord knows how) and they very politely said they would stop. Had a quick look inside the house, it was still a shell. So the old "It can't be us, we have already finished" line wasn't true. We establish they are liars.

 

Since then, like clockwork, around 1am the lady can be heard walking back and forth in high heels, someone is dragging boxes and dropping things on the floor. Every time we knock, we get no response. The light is on, it can be seen through the spy hole, they're simply not opening the door.

 

Well, tonight was the limit. 9:45, and

 

BBBBBZZZZZZZZZZZZZZORRRRRRRWWWWWWWWWAARW

 

Not once, not twice, not thrice but non-stop. We called the Bao-an (a cross between security and parking attendant) and they went up. The noise continued.

 

Now, here is a good time to mention that at University I broke a guy's jaw for playing music from about 3am to 6am for six months, so my actions should be judged in relation to that extreme.

 

BANGBANGBANG!

 

*door opens*

 

There's a guy with an angle grinder on the floor and what looks like a half-made set of shelf brackets. The landlady is standing in the doorway, the Bao'an is inside, looking useless. Husband is in the background.

 

"Yes?"

 

"THE. FUCK. YOU. DOING?"

 

"Well, I'm just..."

 

"SCRATCH THAT, I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU'RE DOING, SHUT THE FUCK UP."

 

"Sorry."

 

"JESUS CHRIST, "SORRY"? IT'S NEARLY TEN O'CLOCK, FUCKING SHUT UP."

 

*stompstompstomp*

 

Now I'm in a thundering rage and won't sleep.

[Dannyboy-the-Dane]

I deem your reaction totally acceptable. What cunts.

[heroicjanitor]

I hate people like that, constantly pretending they don't know what they are doing even though you have warned them many times.

[The Peeps]

haha excellent response. I doubt you'll hear from them again anytime soon.

[Murr]

Our old next door neighbours were absolute douche bags.

 

Their front garden was a complete mess, they're bins were allways overflowing, they never had their green recycle bin emptied because they didn't use it as a recycle bin but general waste,

 

they had a party on one occasion, and there was a huge fight in the car park at around 2am, and a neighbours car got dented / scratched due to the fight,

 

on a 2nd party a neighbour went round and knocked on the door and told them to turn the noise down or the they'll call the police, then said neighbours got in an argument with them and ended up pushing them about.

 

that was the last straw and they were moved after that (Rented property next door)

 

 

our new neighbours aren't much better to be fair, a couple that are arguing all the time, and practically allways smoking weed outside.

 

our area isn't bad at all though, it's not a bad place, but the next door place is always rented out to scum.

[Ganepark32]

I don't really have any bad neighbours like what Iun has posted, thankfully. Quite quiet around my area, except for the teenagers who for some reason like to scream and shout at each other at 2 in the morning on the hill behind my house

 

But, the woman who lives across the road from me is bloody nosey. If you step out of the house to put something in the wheelie bin, go out to the car or just try to go out of the house at all, she'll be sat at her front conservatory blinds oogling at whatever is going on. And it's not as if she's been there for a while because if you look, the blinds are shaking at the far end telling you she's just come running to have a nose. Nosey bitch.

 

Other than that 'delightful' person, the only other bad neighbours are the one next door to the nosey one, who tried to build on amenity ground but couldn't so decided to chop the two big trees down before a preservation order could be slapped on them, and the ones at the top of the street who fenced off a piece of amenity ground and were ready to start building on it without getting permission from the council. Unfortunately for them, they've been taken to court and it looks like they'll lose :p

[Beast]

Iun, I don't blame you for acting like that, I think I would have done the same thing. We don't necessarily have terrible neighbours but they bang around sometimes and sometimes it's at one o'clock in the morning. Also, almost every week we hear a couple having a blazing row in the street at three in the morning (it don't wake me up since I stay up until 2 or 3 luckily but still).

 

The trouble with today is that people show absolutely no compassion or respect for anybody else. Somebody next door could be working nights but they don't give a shit. It makes you angry sometimes.

[ReZourceman]

Uni-beam em'.

[nightwolf]

Bah Iun that sucks ass! No wonder you reacted like that.

 

I've been in uni 2 and a bit years so it's no wonder I've had bad neighbours, back home we've never had any noise issues, I've been quite spoilt that way.

 

First year, halls, speaks for itself, my housemates would bring people over at 3am, once or twice my female neighbour would bring groups of people back at 6am, it was an utter nightmare.

 

Last year was the worst, stuck between two houses, the one side it was 4/5 girls who didn't notice how loud they were no matter how many times we told them (they soon became quiet when they had a party one night and made it so public that they ended up getting robbed when they got back and several guys who were there got punched.), the other neighbours - druggies, thieves, potiental murderers, were just a nightmare, they had people coming and going all the time, the thin walls meant we could hear their mobiles going off all the time and generally they couldn't care less.

 

It was awful living there I can't remember the one time I actually got quiet nights there.

 

Here it's quiet and fine, well most of the time, my neighbours seem to think that 7am is an acceptable time to bang doors and have their kids screaming, the thing is they barely speak english (they are polish as far as I've been told.) and it makes it rather difficult for me to explain to them that I'm tired after a 9-10 hour shift and would they kindly STFU so I could have my first lie in in a very long while.

[Happenstance]

Ive been pretty lucky with neighbours, only two iffy ones really.

 

Last house I lived in I got accused of throwing stones over the fence at my neighbour while he was in the garden. Wasnt me but I still think it was his two sons that did it.

 

Current neighbours piss me off, theyre old and miserable. The man likes to mow his lawn with his top off (not a pretty sight) and according to my sister when she lived here he used to look up into her room when she was changing. They also accused me and a friend of trying to pull out a road pillar thing (cant remember what theyre called) that was outside their house. What we were actually doing was slightly leaning on it while we waited for a friend to come out. Funny thing is that I can now see the same pillar down the side of their house.

[The Mad Monkey]

No, not a thread on the declining quality of everybody's favourite Australian soap

 

 

 

I thought it's been pretty good lately, and they killed Ringo, besides.

 

Seriously though, I have some pretty shit neightbours, the ones either side are OK, but upstairs from me are a couple who are always fighting, and have their TV really loud until the early hours most nights, and underneath there's this guy who works funny hours and is always moaning about my noise, although we try to keep pretty quiet most the time.

[MoogleViper]

I thought it's been pretty good lately, and they killed Ringo, besides.

 

No, not a thread on the declining quality of everybody's favourite Australian soap, rather an open forum on the "People Next Door Who Piss You Off".

 

Keep up Monkey.

[ReZourceman]

Keep up Monkey.

 

That sounds like a childs Christmas present gone wrong.

[The Mad Monkey]

Keep up Monkey.

 

I know, doesn't stop Neighbours from being an awesome show though.

[Iun]

 

That sounds like a childs Christmas present gone wrong.

 

I dunno... I see Donkey Kong in a pair of football boots, a plastic limbo pole and a miniature "football" on a piece of elastic. Could be fun until someone knocks over the papier mache Father Christmas.

 

 

BTT:

 

University was absolutely the worst time, Wolfie, six-months of non-stop noise, yammering outside the rooms at 2am, drunken ramblings interspersed with giggling, some little bum-wipe running through the corridors screaming "Oy Oy SAVELOY!".

 

He was also punched.

[nightwolf]

Indeed, first year is awful, why nobody tells each other this is just mean. This year is much better which is good given I've got like 6 months left.

[Iun]

Indeed, first year is awful, why nobody tells each other this is just mean. This year is much better which is good given I've got like 6 months left.

 

I'm glad I'm doing everything post-graduating online. I was ready to leave by the time I graduated. Mentally I began associating education with incessant noise.

[nightwolf]

I'm glad I'm doing everything post-graduating online. I was ready to leave by the time I graduated. Mentally I began associating education with incessant noise.

 

I was ready to leave uni this time last year, my course is awful and I've not had the best time here. I want a full-time job and money.

 

But we're off-topic!

[Jimbob]

Can't say i blame ya, i would have done the same thing myself.

[Paj!]

I've been fairly blessed with my halls. My flat is quiet/normal, and only sometimes do I hear the music upstairs. And my flatmates are perfect, as obsessed with being good and cleaning up the kitchen and stuff when we're meant to as I am.

 

I have heard horror stories of people going straight to reception to report their flatmates for whatever without even talking to the flat mate about it first. I just pull a madonnagif face at that sorta thing. Obviously if you confront whoever is disrupting your life and they still do it, fine. But don't be a sneaky bitch.

[nightwolf]

I've been fairly blessed with my halls. My flat is quiet/normal, and only sometimes do I hear the music upstairs. And my flatmates are perfect, as obsessed with being good and cleaning up the kitchen and stuff when we're meant to as I am.

 

I have heard horror stories of people going straight to reception to report their flatmates for whatever without even talking to the flat mate about it first. I just pull a madonnagif face at that sorta thing. Obviously if you confront whoever is disrupting your life and they still do it, fine. But don't be a sneaky bitch.

 

I did this before, but then to be fair, the guy was a complete cunt and confront him wasn't an option. Its fine if you have a flat like yours but 99% of the time people have a terrible time in halls!

[Paj!]

I suppose I'm in a really good flat (ground floor, right near the entrance and reception, can see when the bus comes, perfect flatmates) and have a fairly good friend group/am in with everybody. Like...I love the feeling of my friends from 2 blocks down coming round at 11 in a shopping trolley, just the lolz.

 

I know it's different if you aren't feeling your peers/you're saddled with cunts.

[nightwolf]

I suppose I'm in a really good flat (ground floor, right near the entrance and reception, can see when the bus comes, perfect flatmates) and have a fairly good friend group/am in with everybody. Like...I love the feeling of my friends from 2 blocks down coming round at 11 in a shopping trolley, just the lolz.

 

I know it's different if you aren't feeling your peers/you're saddled with cunts.

 

Sounds nice, I lived in the only basement flat with a rich kid who stole my food, a girl who thought bringing friends over at 6am and screaming was fine and another guy who hid all the time like me.

 

It sucked, I was also overlooking the courtyard and regardless people would play ball, the amount of nights I woke up to the football hitting my window or them screaming at each other or hearing drunkards screaming stupid songs. Or hearing those damn suitcases on the pathing.

 

Oh the horror.

[Iun]

Sounds nice, I lived in the only basement flat with a rich kid who stole my food, a girl who thought bringing friends over at 6am and screaming was fine and another guy who hid all the time like me.

 

It sucked, I was also overlooking the courtyard and regardless people would play ball, the amount of nights I woke up to the football hitting my window or them screaming at each other or hearing drunkards screaming stupid songs. Or hearing those damn suitcases on the pathing.

 

Oh the horror.

 

This is why guns are banned: not because they're dangerous, but because there are so many temptations to use them.

[nightwolf]

This is why guns are banned: not because they're dangerous, but because there are so many temptations to use them.

 

Haha!

 

I've lived with strangers and best friends, I would have killed them all, this year I live with someone who is barely here, next year I'll be by myself.

 

Hopefully my neighours will be fine. Otherwise I'll get them.