Heather Hanson's Diary 08/14/09-Neighbors

Neighbors are always the most interesting part of living somewhere. When I was a kid the neighbors we had in our neighborhood were mainly elderly, but they were always the nicest people. You were able to bug them as much as you wanted and they were always nice to you no matter how much you annoyed them. And if they had grandkids your age it was a big score for you.

I've lived in my apartment now for five years and my neighbors that underneath me are moving. They have been here for as long as I have, or that I have recognized. They have always been great neighbors who have helped me out tremendously when I really needed it and have been very quiet too. I think I've only had to talk to them about any type of noise once or twice since we have been neighbors and I've always been quiet for them. That was up til the beginning of April.

Ever since the nice warmer weather has come everyone has been opening their windows at night due to how warm its been getting at night including me. I have always done it ever since I moved in and have had no problems. Then one night I was woken up by my neighbors. I thought it may have been the neighbors on the bottom floor. I live on the third floor and the neighbors on the bottom have been really annoying because they fight constantly and get louder and louder with their fights. I've had to go down to their apartment a few times to ask them to calm it down and they have alqways been apologetic and stopped, so i was thinking it may have been them. Turns out it was the people right underneath me. Only they were not fighting, if you are catching this drift.

After a few minutes of hearing them they finally stopped and I was able to get back to sleep. I was a little angry because I am one of those people who if I get woken up I have the worst time falling back asleep. It took me a bit but I finally did. The next night I left my window open again and had no problems. That weekend came and I was woken again by the same neighbors doing the same thing they were doing when they woke me the first time only they were louder. Once again, not happy. I didnt start getting angry until they woke me again for the third time. Thats when I decided it was time to talk to them.

I'm still trying to figure out why they all of a sudden became loud people. They have always been quiet and just recently they decided to be loud. I was walking down my stairs a few days later and saw the male counterpart of the duo coming out of his apartment with their dogs. I had my dog with me too so he had to stop and say hi to the neighbor dogs. "How are you doing?" my neighbor asked.

"I'm doing OK", I said, "I do have to talk to you about something though."

"Oh, what's up?"

"Well, I dont know how to explain this but is it possible you can close your windows at night?" I was very uncomfortable at this point. How exactly do you tell your neighbor that you can hear him and his girlfriend while they are in coital activity and ask them to be more quiet? I would be embarrassed if someone came up and said this to me but I would be very apologetic about it, but these two are also young and most young adults don't really care about things like this. "Why?" he asked.

"I dont know how to put this nicely, but I can hear you guys at night and you tend to wake me up."

"What?" he asked, kind of confused.

"I can hear you guys from my window."

"I don't understand", he said.

Now Im starting to get a little miffed. I don't want to be rude and tell him that he needs to look into getting a ball gag for his girlfriend because she is very loud but I'm getting close so i try again with the subtle wording. "I can HEAR you at night when you are in bed."

He then gets the confused look on his face again and after a minute he then realizes what I was trying to tell him. "Oh", he says, "Sorry about that. We will start closing the window."

"Thank you", I said. Then I start doing the uncomfortable talking to him telling him that it was either talk to them or get ear plugs. So i felt better afterwards and thought, good, now I will get a good nights sleep without being woken up. A few nights later, I was woken by them again. I then just decided to close my window at night since I had a fan in my room and a good breeze coming from the living room window. Then it got to the point where I heard them through my closed window with the fan on so then I just put the fan on the highest level. After doing that I could no longer hear them.

Last night I took my dog out and saw my other neighbor that lives right next to the downstairs neighbors and her dog out playing on the grass. I walked over and started talking to her and the topic of my downstairs neighbors came up. I told her about my issue and she laughed about it because she felt the same embarrassment that I did. She said she would feel embarrassed about that discussion with your neighbor too. She then told me that the neighbors were moving. "I talked with her the other day and they are moving but I don't know when."

Then today I was watching tv in my livingroom and heard the sound of a big truck just outside. I went into my room and looked out my window and saw a moving truck with the downstairs neighbor directing it while it was backing up. I guess they are moving today, I thought. Then another thought came to my mind. Yay, I can now open my window again. Cheers!