The Neighborly Way
I've had a piano since 1995 or so. Since we've lived in a townhouse/townhouse/rental house/apartment/condo, I've rarely played it out of consideration for my neighbors. I just think it's rude to subject ANYONE to my pounding on the ivories.
Since LM was 4, and up until 6 months ago, we always lived in an upstairs unit. I have spent half of that time telling him NOT to stomp on the floor. To slow down, don't run. Don't bang your toys on the carpet. And so on and so forth, always conscious of the folks down below.
Now we live in a downstairs apartment with concrete walls. Nothing can penetrate these walls (unfortunately not even a neighbor's broadband). Sound is rarely as issue, although I can clearly hear the upstairs neighbor's alarm clock when it goes off at 10:30, 10:35, 10:40, 10:45, etc. every single night when I'm trying to fall asleep (she works the late shift).
It would seem, however, that our neighbor across the parking lot didn't get the "be kind to your fellow apartment-dwellers" memo when they moved in. Hanging from their balcony is a windchime longer than I am tall (I may exaggerate just a smidge). The thing is HUGE. I can hear it all night long. I can hear it while I'm watching TV. I can hear it when we're eating dinner. AND I DON'T HAVE ANY WINDOWS OPEN.
The blasted thing is chiming right now when it's still too dark out to even consider being awake.
I put in a nice call to the office. I'd speak to the people directly, but we have security doors in our buildings, so the best I could do is just shout from the ground to their third floor unit and hope they could hear me over the racket of the chimes. I'm hoping management asks them to take it down. I cannot imagine how it must sound to oh, say, the people right below them?! But, if it's still hanging there next week, I may just have to climb up three balconies in the middle of the night and remove the darn thing myself.
File under: What are people thinking??!
Since LM was 4, and up until 6 months ago, we always lived in an upstairs unit. I have spent half of that time telling him NOT to stomp on the floor. To slow down, don't run. Don't bang your toys on the carpet. And so on and so forth, always conscious of the folks down below.
Now we live in a downstairs apartment with concrete walls. Nothing can penetrate these walls (unfortunately not even a neighbor's broadband). Sound is rarely as issue, although I can clearly hear the upstairs neighbor's alarm clock when it goes off at 10:30, 10:35, 10:40, 10:45, etc. every single night when I'm trying to fall asleep (she works the late shift).
It would seem, however, that our neighbor across the parking lot didn't get the "be kind to your fellow apartment-dwellers" memo when they moved in. Hanging from their balcony is a windchime longer than I am tall (I may exaggerate just a smidge). The thing is HUGE. I can hear it all night long. I can hear it while I'm watching TV. I can hear it when we're eating dinner. AND I DON'T HAVE ANY WINDOWS OPEN.
The blasted thing is chiming right now when it's still too dark out to even consider being awake.
I put in a nice call to the office. I'd speak to the people directly, but we have security doors in our buildings, so the best I could do is just shout from the ground to their third floor unit and hope they could hear me over the racket of the chimes. I'm hoping management asks them to take it down. I cannot imagine how it must sound to oh, say, the people right below them?! But, if it's still hanging there next week, I may just have to climb up three balconies in the middle of the night and remove the darn thing myself.
File under: What are people thinking??!
Comments
:-)
But... I live in a neighborhood.
We have neighbors.
I have always assumed their reaction would be similar to the one you have had, so I have refrained.