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Noise
Apr 6, 2010 14:11:46 GMT -5
Post by Ganbare! on Apr 6, 2010 14:11:46 GMT -5
In every single North American city I've been to there has to be loud crashing sounds to wake you up at 3am. I forgot how living downtown in a 30-story building can be hell.
The worse time of the year probably is the FIFA World Cup when 20 dudes gather in the next-door flat to watch live football broadcast in the middle of the night, yelling every 5 minutes like their life depended on it. At some point South Koreans and Turks were deemed public enemy number one in my city because of their uncivil behavior.
Is it noticeable where you live? How do you put up with it?
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Noise
Apr 7, 2010 9:03:17 GMT -5
Post by helles on Apr 7, 2010 9:03:17 GMT -5
I dont think i could sleep without noise. the past 3 years or so, i've lived in the city centre, my previous place was right on a busy main road and now right by the bar area. i tend to have the window open as well these days and still sleep like a baby.
i'm not sure i could sleep in silence!
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Noise
Apr 7, 2010 14:08:58 GMT -5
Post by admin on Apr 7, 2010 14:08:58 GMT -5
It's quiet here, it was quiet at my old place in another city, it was quiet in the place before that and the place before that. It was quiet In the place before that, too.
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Noise
Apr 7, 2010 15:06:11 GMT -5
Post by Ganbare! on Apr 7, 2010 15:06:11 GMT -5
I heard in every large East Coast city I've been to Toronto, Montreal, Chicago, Miami, NYC, they all had it. Miami and NYC are under construction year-round. Some people are more sensitive to sound than others but it's nearly imposible not to have experienced it unless you live in suburbia/residential area?
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Noise
Apr 7, 2010 16:48:56 GMT -5
Post by admin on Apr 7, 2010 16:48:56 GMT -5
Construction permits don't allow work/noise usually from 6pm to 7am. I lived in my brother's co-op on the upper west side and never heard crashing noises at 3am or thereabouts every night. I suppose if you have a window facing a place that has middle of the night garbage pickup and have inferior windows you would hear a crash, but the percentage of apartments or houses that would experience that even in a big city would be pretty small.
I lived in residential areas mostly (don't most people?) in cities, only two in suburbia, the other ones in proper cities, and in one fully industrial area (which was the quietest). What you describe - 3am soccer fans yelling - would not be tolerated anywhere I lived including NYC.
I've heard yelling/noises at night but it's rare and certainly not an epidemic.
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Noise
Apr 8, 2010 5:04:15 GMT -5
Post by Ganbare! on Apr 8, 2010 5:04:15 GMT -5
lol helles you must be a heavy sleeper then. I'm a light sleeper and have quite a sharp audition as well so it doesn't really help. I wasn't only referring to construction. In my short life I've always lived around downtown so hearing loud fans rolling during summer time in old buildings, people slamming metallic doors and like you mentionned garbage pickup was the common lot. Also, I've stayed above a bar for several weeks, the kind of bar the Hell's Angels (biker mafia for those who have never heard of them) open fire once in a while, it was a complete nightmare, noisy music, drunk blokes throwing empty bottles on the pavement, screams and arguments..
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Noise
Apr 8, 2010 8:56:41 GMT -5
Post by helles on Apr 8, 2010 8:56:41 GMT -5
i dont think i'm particularly a heavy sleeper, i just need to have noise. even if i'm at home i need the tv on or ipod on in the background to feel comfortable.
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Noise
May 13, 2010 13:49:16 GMT -5
Post by i move the stars for no one on May 13, 2010 13:49:16 GMT -5
when i moved back to the suburbs of my middle sized city from the small country town where i was living it was complete culture shock at night.it was so loud.i didn't have trouble sleeping but i much prefer silence.
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Noise
May 16, 2010 2:58:42 GMT -5
Post by FreckleFoot on May 16, 2010 2:58:42 GMT -5
When I lived in the UK I lived in a fairly quiet town, but after moving once we sometimes heard kids making noise late.
When I moved to a small town in Ontario, Canada, there was some noise from the traffic on the busy road nearby, but other than that we rarely heard anything apart from TVs in the daytime.
We moved to Toronto and then we heard people coming by in cars playing loud rap and R&B music all night, there was a woman next door who yelled at her boyfriend at all times of the day and night, there was a boy living down the hallway who was always screaming and there was a family of six Filipinos living upstairs who always dragged their feet, scraped their furniture across the floor every few minutes from 6a.m. to 4a.m. the next morning and got incredibly defensive if we asked them to please lower the noise levels. Hated that place.
Here in France, our neighbours are just as inconsiderate. When people come to stay here in the summer, they go out on their balconies shouting and playing loud music and even when neighbours ask them politely to keep quiet, they completely ignore them and carry on as if nothing had happened. We have an old lady living above us who sometimes marches around all night with shoes that sound like high heels, drops things, drags furniture and has her TV on at full volume. Usually when she is in the mood to keep the whole building awake, the noise starts between 10-11 p.m. and continues on until 8 a.m. the next morning. You can't even sleep with earplugs, the noise is so bad.
You can get rubbish neighbours anywhere in the world, but I would expect that adults would be more considerate of others. Some might say that if you live in a flat/apartment building you can expect a lot of noise, but in every contract there is a paragraph about noise pollution at night and early in the morning. I expect to hear noise in the daytime, but not when I'm trying to sleep.
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Noise
May 16, 2010 3:24:27 GMT -5
Post by Ganbare! on May 16, 2010 3:24:27 GMT -5
Why don't you call the police lol? Sometimes I feel so old despite my young age for wishing to return to suburbia to enjoy peace and quiet but at the same time I love the nocturne urban party scene.. I remember living right across an elevator once, everytime someone would ride it in my building which happened roughly every 5 minutes, I'd hear annoying rattling noises in the living room. the worse part is that I am really sensitive to sounds in general.
People are noisy regardless of location. For example, Tokyo is one of a sonic hell during the day, last time I've been there I was constantly surrounded by 3 different voices, 4 repetitive nerve-wracking jingles, multiple sirens and distant music blared in stores etc. The supermarket owner down the streets puts on country music not melodic one but a horrid type that made leave the store shivering without buying anything several times whenever I forgot my mp3 player..
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Noise
May 16, 2010 4:22:16 GMT -5
Post by TeeHee on May 16, 2010 4:22:16 GMT -5
My next-door neighbor has a pet macaw that she keeps outside in the backyard. They are notoriously loud birds- in the wild, their vocals are made to carry across long distances. Experts say that, as pets, macaws should be kept indoors where most of the daily activities are; when they see people/someone around, they feel they're in good company and are less likely to cry for attention by screaming. This bird squawks like crazy and my neighbor is well aware of it, but she doesn't seem to think it's a big deal; if anything, she actually feels sorry for it, as her responses to it so far have just been "awww poor baby...." There have been many times where my mom has lost sleep, waking up very late night/early morning because of the noise(her room is closer to it than mine); I've since given her earplugs, so she can sleep through the night now. That said, it's still annoying when I'm in my room trying to concentrate and I hear this bugger squawking away. I feel uneasy at the thought of being confrontational with my neighbor, as she is a very sweet lady and has also pet-sat for me before.
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Noise
May 16, 2010 5:42:55 GMT -5
Post by FreckleFoot on May 16, 2010 5:42:55 GMT -5
Why don't you call the police lol? I've been to the police here before for more serious matters and they did not want to help, so I don't think they would be willing to come stop a noisy neighbour. In addition, this lady has connections with members of the management of the building, so I don't think there's much we can do except for to deal with it and hope we can leave soon. (It would be silly to move elsewhere in this city because we will only be here until autumn 2011 at the very latest.) Sometimes I feel 'too old' for my age in wanting certain things, but I don't mind. I've always appeared 'too old', so it's nothing new for me! I forgot to mention though... In general I did find North America noisier than Europe. For example, in all the stores they tend to play very loud music, whereas here they either have none or it's more of a background noise. I got rather fed up in the months leading up to Christmas. There's only so many times I can put up with hearing Jingle Bells repeating at full volume while doing grocery shopping! TeeHee - Would it still feel awkward even if you asked her very politely? I know how it feels to be uneasy in any confrontational situation, but if you and your mum are losing sleep over it it may be worth trying.
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Noise
May 16, 2010 11:56:38 GMT -5
Post by Ganbare! on May 16, 2010 11:56:38 GMT -5
^I feel for you, never had such terrible neighbors but I experienced living feets away from the highway... How do you manage moving so often? Where are you planning to move next Asia?
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Noise
May 16, 2010 13:43:00 GMT -5
Post by jefe on May 16, 2010 13:43:00 GMT -5
HK is far far far far far noisier than the central business district of any East Coast USA city that I have every lived in (including Manhattan, DC, Boston, etc.). There is incessant jackhammers, traffic, and renovation going on constantly.
And I lived on 60th street @ 3rd avenue across from Bloomingdales, with the heavy trucks rumbling by @5am on the way across the Roosevelt Bridge -- that was noisy, but NOTHING compared to HK.
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Noise
May 17, 2010 2:45:14 GMT -5
Post by FreckleFoot on May 17, 2010 2:45:14 GMT -5
Ganbare - I guess we have bad luck! We only ever end up visiting the potential flat or apartment when everything is quiet and peaceful (we always visit several times if possible now to get a good idea of noise levels)... then once we've moved in it has done a complete turn-around!
We move so often because of my husband's job. Although I may have many complaints at times, it is certainly an amazing experience to be able to live in so many different places. We're hoping the next stop will be in Asia, but nothing's certain yet.
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