Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a blog post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the twelfth day of the month is "Complaint."
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| Hannah in timeout on Easter. |
I've complained about the church bells here before. They go off every fifteen minutes and the church is right behind our house and it's loud and obnoxious and I hate it. But that's not news. What is news is that the church bells went off like crazy at 6:30 am on Easter morning. That is TOO EARLY for craziness and this is what my sweet, quiet girl thinks about the bells.
What is something in your neighborhood that drives you bonkers?
Oh, I have something! We have a huge backyard, but it abuts on to a train track and the train horns in the middle of the night are just...
ReplyDeleteFor one summer in college I lived next to train tracks and those horns are so jolting!
DeleteI honestly think I would have to move. I remember as a child going every month or so to visit a senior who was homebound. She had a living room with yellow curtains that were always drawn so even on a sunny day the inside of her space looked...sickly and depressing...and she had a clock that would chime every 15 minutes. Even as a child, I wanted to get up off the sofa and grab the clock and smash it into a million smithereens.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago we visited someone who has a similar clock, except this one does songs every 30? or 60? minutes. It was soooo distracting (and goes 24/7/365) but the person said they don't even notice it.
I think the toughest thing about my neighbourhood is that we've had a challenging situation with a family that moved in a few years ago. It was the main cause of my pretty big mental health spiral last summer and I'm feeling anxious as the warmer weather arrives because it means we all stop hibernating and I'll have to face the situation head-on and...it's filling me with anxiety for sure.
I have friends who got a clock on their honeymoon that does a song on the hour. At noon and midnight, it does this whole thing where the clock face starts rotating and pulling away from the rest of the clock to show a different section of the clock and I do not know how they live with it. I would inevitably smash it!
DeleteI'm so sorry that this family in your neighborhood is still posing problems for you and your family. It's so hard because you want to be able to use your outdoor space! I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that perhaps it won't be such an issue this year.
The cynic in me wants to say that relationship can never last with an omen like that purchased on a honeymoon! I am a very light sleeper, especially since having kiddos, so having something that does that at midnight would drive me crazy. ALSO - WHO IS AWAKE AT MIDNIGHT TO WATCH IT DO ITS COOL THING? These weird clocks and bells really leave me shaking my head :)
DeleteAnd thanks for the well-wishes with our summer!! It's such an odd dynamic - complicated, seemingly minor and yet deeply impactful to our day-to-day life - in an otherwise "perfect" neighbourhood. I feel so bad for saying it (because their situation is complicated), but I really, really hope they move. They are a lovely family, we just got off on the wrong foot and it has spiralled downward from there and just - ugh.
Preach, Hannah!
ReplyDeleteWe live several blocks away from a hospital that has a landing pad for a helicopter. Whenever a helicopter comes in, it totally ruins television reception. We also have an Amtrak station a bit farther away, and in some specific atmospheric conditions, it, too can mess up the tv.
But those bells! I'd have to object. Every hour would be more than enough.
Oh, I can't imagine how loud a landing pad would be. I also think it would be hard to complain about that noise because of saving lives and whatever. Tough spot for you!
DeleteI think the bells should only run during the hours of 8am and 8pm, but I've been told this is impossible. I won't even complain about it being every fifteen minutes if they just didn't ring in the middle of the night!
Eek! I'm with Hannah on the bells. We do live near a train track (on the wrong side of course) but we hardly notice it.
ReplyDeleteHannah's such a quiet dog that whenever she starts howling, I'm utterly entranced because it's so unusual. I'm with her, though - they must hurt her ears.
DeleteBack in 2004, the city repaved our street and sidewalks. My neighbour, who is an engineer, was disputing with them with regards to the slope and height of the sidewalks. He insisted that the way they were doing them would cause problems with ice on the sidewalks. The city continued on its way. Here we are in 2023, and for the past 19 years every winter the snowmelt backs up, refreezes, and causes huge problems with ice on the sidewalks, that no one can do anything about except throw a ton of gravel on. That's the only complaint I have, really.
ReplyDeleteUgh! A totally preventable problem, though. *sigh*
DeleteWow, I'm really appreciating how lucky we are. No church bells, helicopter landing pads, or train tracks near us! We have the occasional noisy neighbor party, but I can't complain much about that.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone else (other than Hannah) complain about the bells? I mean is your whole neighborhood okay with it? It seems like people would be complaining and trying to get that changed!
Everyone who lives in the neighborhood complains about the bells. Unfortunately, the church claims that they can't turn off the bells just at night and the members of the city council I have spoken to about it basically have said that the church was here before us and we should have known about it. I mean, I guess I did know the bells went off during the day, but I assumed they'd be turned off at night.
DeletePeople who do not live in our neighborhood, but live in our town, really like the bell tower and whenever someone from the neighborhood complains (on the town's ND or FB pages), there is A LOT of pushback about how the bells are a town trademark.
Sing it, Hannah!
ReplyDeleteA thing that annoys me is that we live near a school and people leaving the school RARELY stop at the stop sign. I have to be extremely vigilant to not get into accidents there. It makes me very mad. Stop at the stop sign! I know your kids dawdled getting out the door and you are probably late to work but STOP at the stop sign!
Yes! We are two blocks from the middle school and Hannah and I really struggle to avoid getting hit by random cars stopping in the middle of roads or swerving without warning (usually to let kids out or get in). It's weird that people seem to be more erratic in school zones instead of MORE CAREFUL!
DeleteWe all have mailboxes on wooden posts out in front of our individual houses. Some confused neighbors put a flag holder on the back of the wooden post, meaning that when they fly a flag, usually the USA one, it is flying toward their house [while the mailbox is looks at the street]. And here's the thing: one marches into battle with their flag leading the way to victory, not pointing back at them. It drives me bonkers that these people don't have any historical sense and it looks ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha! This is the kind of drama I'm here for!! I would never even notice something like this, but now if I see it, I'm going to be just as annoyed as you!
DeleteOh man, those bells would annoy me so much! I don't know if I could handle it. Something needs to be done about them!
ReplyDeleteThe only annoying thing about where I live is that I live next to a very busy road so I hear ambulances and fire trucks zooming by at all hours. It just makes me very unsettled! Not good for someone with an anxiety disorder, lol.
We live on the same road as the fire station, but that noise doesn't really bother me. I guess I'm on board for saving lives. Ha. I can see how it would be hard for your anxiety, though. Worst case scenarios just flying through your brain!
DeleteOMG I could NOT. Noise bothers me too - like when the neighbors have a loud party late at night. That happens infrequently, thankfully.
ReplyDeleteI think the thing is that if the windows are open, I can still hear the bells even with earplugs in. It's so annoying!
DeleteMy neighbors are pretty quiet for the most part, so I can't complain. There is a family two doors down that does a lot of bonfires in summer, but I kind of like to hear the kids playing. If it were a consistent noise problem, I'd probably lose my mind.
One church in town still rings bells, but I think only twice daily, and it isn’t near us.
ReplyDeleteI take it very happily if they cut back to twice a day!
DeleteOh wow, that would annoy me, too! There isn't much that annoys us in our neighborhood but there is a house w/ some teenagers across the street from us and they are known for being very very loud in the middle of the night. I try to be understanding because I know that is part of being a teenager (well for some teens - that wasn't the case for me since I was a rule follower). I usually sleep through it as I sleep w/ ear plugs in but they always wake my husband.
ReplyDeleteI would lose my everloving mind. Poor Hannah. Poor Engie. Seriously - there needs to be a petition. A citizen uprising. Who in their right mind would think this is okay? It HAS to be a digital system. There's no kid on a bell rope in their bell tower. Ergo, it can be programmed. And it can be programmed to turn it OFF AT NIGHT. Sheesh. The inflexibility of the church and the town are... okay, not surprising, but good freaking lord. Bend a little, people. It probably won't kill you...
ReplyDelete