Noise, Noise Everywhere No Silence To Think

Pipa Riggs via Instagram
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As I said in a previous post years ago about the 'bedroom tax', when the dog left we would move. T with going a bit mental and trying to get fixed up a little, this didn't happen right away.

The awful noise from our neighbours was tolerable while we were able to leave the house for a while each day. However, since we've had abuse from a band of local young people leaving home isn't exactly a nice experience either.

On one hand, we can stay in an witness our neighbours arguing, copulating and generally being noisy. Along with having the youngsta's lurking around our door and gate, if they're not lobbing stuff at it.

On the other, we can leave once the human noise generators wake up, presuming it's before the kids get out of school. If the kids are out of school, then, although the direct abuse has stopped (for now), we have to make it from the door to the car. It's only a short distance but the path is narrow and they tend to either hang around just by our door or by the gate. The way they go silent and stair at us is almost as threatening and anxiety inducing as actual threats or verbal abuse.

We can't even exist in our 'home'.

Our neighbours rise somewhere between 0700hrs → 1700hrs, and go to sleep between 0100hrs → 1300hrs. When they are sleeping we can hear them snoring or rolling over in bed. I don't want you to think I'm being hyperbolic here, but when they roll over it sounds like an engine grinding to a stop. This noise along with the noises involved in sex is fairly horrific. Being forced to witness people having sex isn't ever fun on its own. Now add it the gaming sessions that last all night; five or so daily sessions of arguing at full volume with doors slamming and feet stopping and oh, hearing every plop and dribble when they use the toilet.

Staying in drives me bad, going out when the kids are around is scary and before you say it, why should I have to make changes to my life to account for other people's behaviors?

We've got quite a few points on our local authority housing application yet, despite having 'urgent housing needs' – we've been waiting for around six plus months. Now we find ourselves in a cycle of anxiety and depression. Trying to workout which would be the better of the two crap options.

1) Stay where we are until we get allocated an appropriate place. Due to my disabilities, a bungalow is all that we're allowed.

2) Move into a privately rented place and lose all the points we've accumulated, meaning being at the will of a private landlord and market rents. Loss of points would mean we'd basically never get another social housing solution.

Such a first world problem. Perhaps I should be glad to have a 'home' but sooner we move sooner someone else can have this place. It's a lie to say, I've not thought about packing up the bare minimum and just walking away and living in a tent. Only problem with this is that you need an address to claim social welfare.

I don't quite know why I'm bothering to write this post. It's not relieving the stress or tension and if anything it's probably making me feel more angry and hopeless.

All I want is a good night's sleep, to be able to live peacefully and feel safe walking from my front door to the car. It shouldn't be too much to ask but it feels like I'm asking to move into a palace with armed guards and a private garage…

Finding time where we don't have to shift medical appointments or whatever is one issue. The other is, if we go away and we get allocated somewhere we get seven days to let them know if we're interested in the offer. This is generally from the day the letter was sent and it's sent 2^nd class 2-5 days… It also comes back down to the 'why should I' point. Going away is hard when you know you have to come back to somewhere that is making your situation that much more difficult. The thought of going away seems as futile as the situation you're trying to escape.