The first party of the season
Oct. 7th, 2025 02:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shewhomustThe leaves are changing colour, the students are returning, there aren't enough parking spaces - and last night, as I was going to bed, I heard noises from the gardens behind the house (from our immediate neighbours downhill, as it happens) and was mildly surprised that Monday was party night. There were loud voices, which I can usually sleep through, and rhythmic music, which I can't, but it wasn't half-past ten yet, and with luck it would stop by eleven, which is the curfew and has, over the last couple of years, been generally observed.
By the timedurham_rambler came to bed, it was past eleven and the noise was, if anything, louder. He told me that our immediate neighbour uphill had messaged the WhatsApp group to say that he could hear the bass, and the two of them went together to knock on the door and ask for the noise to be kept down. durham_rambler returned with good news: they were very apologetic, and they would move indoors. There was no sign of this happening. durham_rambler flung open the window and shouted at the people next door to go inside: this may have had some effect, but it soon started up again, so at 11.30 I got up and phoned the police.
The call was answered very rapidly, and the person I spoke to was very pleasant (and I was probably quite grumpy, but please make allowances). I'm posting this because I want a record of the conversation.
Me: I want to report a noisy party in Durham City.
Her: Where is it?
Me: [gives exact address]
Her: Is that Coxhoe, or Pity Me?
Me: No, it's in Durham City.
Her: How long has it been going on?
Me: I first heard it not long after ten o' clock.
Her: Is it music?
Me: Music and loud voices - shouting.
Her: What sort of shouting?
Me: Oh, not fighting - just being loud.
Her: Oh, yes - I can hear it through the phone.
Her (tentatively): Might they be students?
That's the punchline. Might they be students? This is Durham City, and it's the first week of term: of course they are students.
In fact the system worked as it was supposed to: the police turned up surprisingly quickly, the noise stopped, and todaydurham_rambler ran into someone from the County Council's noise department who told him he had just visited the offending household and told them off. Which is all the more remarkable because the initial contact was with someone who was apparently unaware of a persistent local issue.
By the time
durham_rambler came to bed, it was past eleven and the noise was, if anything, louder. He told me that our immediate neighbour uphill had messaged the WhatsApp group to say that he could hear the bass, and the two of them went together to knock on the door and ask for the noise to be kept down. durham_rambler returned with good news: they were very apologetic, and they would move indoors. There was no sign of this happening. durham_rambler flung open the window and shouted at the people next door to go inside: this may have had some effect, but it soon started up again, so at 11.30 I got up and phoned the police. The call was answered very rapidly, and the person I spoke to was very pleasant (and I was probably quite grumpy, but please make allowances). I'm posting this because I want a record of the conversation.
Me: I want to report a noisy party in Durham City.
Her: Where is it?
Me: [gives exact address]
Her: Is that Coxhoe, or Pity Me?
Me: No, it's in Durham City.
Her: How long has it been going on?
Me: I first heard it not long after ten o' clock.
Her: Is it music?
Me: Music and loud voices - shouting.
Her: What sort of shouting?
Me: Oh, not fighting - just being loud.
Her: Oh, yes - I can hear it through the phone.
Her (tentatively): Might they be students?
That's the punchline. Might they be students? This is Durham City, and it's the first week of term: of course they are students.
In fact the system worked as it was supposed to: the police turned up surprisingly quickly, the noise stopped, and today
durham_rambler ran into someone from the County Council's noise department who told him he had just visited the offending household and told them off. Which is all the more remarkable because the initial contact was with someone who was apparently unaware of a persistent local issue.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-09 03:37 am (UTC)She's not very experienced with this, I see.
I'm glad it got handled despite that inauspicious start!
no subject
Date: 2025-10-09 10:45 am (UTC)