Blessed Silence

As some might recall me mentioning before, back in spring/summer I was having problems with being frequently disturbed by a neighbour's noisy bird.  

It started last winter but kept getting worse, and during summer became even more annoying, as then the neighbour also kept their balcony door open most of the day.  

I kept thinking of complaining to our housing company's office; but I hate conflicts, and could not really think of a "solution" other than the neighbour getting rid of the bird altogheter, which I wasn't sure was something I could demand.

It was also more about being frequently disturbed, rather than each session always lasting very long. (But that one would never know until afterwards!) Was I to try to report an ongoing disturbance by phone, it was likely to stop (pause) before I managed to get through to anyone. And in the nighttime I did not hear it. (I imagine the owner throwing a blanket over its cage in the evenings and until next morning.)

Summer came, and with it the usual period of noise from big birds outdoors: seagulls, crows and magpies fighting each other over food, and anxious to protect their own young offspring. And with that background noise added, it seemed even harder to "plead my case" about the single pet bird next door (even if to my ears, that was still much worse!).

In July, neighbour + animals (there's also a dog) went away for three weeks or so. Blessed silence reigned for a while in their absence - and my nerves calmed down... But at the same time, that also made me realise how much the frequent daily screeches from that bird had really come to affect me!

Sounds of silence

... And as soon as they were back from their holiday, it all started again. 

After my own mini holiday in August, I decided to keep daily notes for a while (time of day, for how long, frequence etc); and after a couple of weeks of that, I did try to sum up my complaints in an email to the landlord's office.

After a week or so I got a reply back that they had talked to my neighbour. (Their general policy is discretion towards both parties, so no details about what was said.) I did not really expect any sudden major change... But after that, it did actually seem like the owner was probably at least trying not to encourage the bird to chatter away as much as before.

 

However: Since the beginning of October I haven't heard a single chirp. And as there have still been sounds/signs of normal human activity, I'm actually beginning to think (fingers crossed!) that a new home must have been found for the bird - somewhere else entirely. (Hopefully permanently, and with someone living in a house of their own this time...)

Blessed Silence

All illustrations in this post created with the help of Microsoft Bing Image Creator.