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AIBU

Noise on a Sunday

(76 Posts)
Grammaretto Mon 05-Oct-20 08:01:59

It turned into a gorgeous sunny day yesterday but by 10am the peace was shattered by the noise of garden machinery. Not just the neighbours mowing the lawn which is acceptable, but commercial "landscapers" and builders at work.
AIBU to want Sunday to be a bit different to the rest of the week?

Grammaretto Wed 07-Oct-20 19:11:24

Thanks Tweedle24. I hate complaining but someone has to do it. At least they could leave the loud noises until later in the day.

Tweedle24 Wed 07-Oct-20 09:45:41

Grammaretto Sorry not been on for a day or two. Control of Pollution Act 1974. Local councils can have some discretion but, have a look on your local council website

MiniMoon Tue 06-Oct-20 10:34:47

Someone near me uses the weekend to use a chain saw! It buzzes away for hours on end. We live near a plant hire business that provides building and garden supplies. They are quite noisy during the week, so a bit of peace on the weekend would be nice.

craftyone Tue 06-Oct-20 10:14:42

Sundays were always a day of rest, after 6 hard days of work. Church and then a family day out to the park or the coast on a bus. Still very memorable

Sunday still has the right atmosphere here where I live, ok there are mowers but the noise does not last long. I see people, mostly men, traipsing back from the shop with the sunday paper and a bag of croissants, back home to coffee and croissants and the newspaper, lovely, it still feels like sunday here

Grammaretto Tue 06-Oct-20 09:42:11

When I worked on the census 2001, 2011 our instructions were to call on households Monday - Saturday 9am and before 7pm and not before noon on Sunday.
I kept to that but often found people in their nightclothes (or less) on a Sunday afternoon. So that was their way of keeping the Sabbath

Sgilley Tue 06-Oct-20 08:10:38

Reading here about the draconian restrictions in Switzerland and Germany I would certainly not want to exist like that. I hear a lot about what is and isn’t allowed in Germany from my cousin and his wife who live there. I’ll put up with garden noise and wouldn’t want to live with a dictatorship. Covid apart we do have freedom. Thank you UK!!

MissAdventure Mon 05-Oct-20 23:18:59

A lot of people work shifts, so days off will be spent catching up with house and garden work.

eagleswings Mon 05-Oct-20 23:15:18

Isn't the Sunday quiet rule based on us having 'a day of rest' ?Which was not only supposed to be good for us, mentally and physically but is a recommendation from our Maker.? Call me old fashioned, but aren't we supposed to be reflecting on God and our relationship with him on Sunday..? Leaving the lawns and house maintenance to Saturday?
Oh, but I'm forgetting we live in a secular society where God isn't supposed to be mentioned, where we don't give him the credit..ever. How very sad. We're in danger of losing hold of something so precious.

Grammaretto Mon 05-Oct-20 18:34:24

If there is one thing I can't stand, it's intolerance!
Puzzled grin

Tweedle24 can you point me to that law please. There were 2 companies at work with their business vans.
I'm in Scotland which is part of the UK but some of our laws are different..

Tweedle24 Mon 05-Oct-20 16:43:37

Grammaretto If you are in the U.K, you should not have to put up with builders and commercial landscapers on a Sunday. It is illegal for those to be working from lunchtime Saturday until 08,30 on Monday

Daftbag1 Mon 05-Oct-20 16:39:00

Not an issue for me, not only do I rarely know what day of the week it is but I have really bad tinnitus, and all I hear is the fire alarm in my ears!

Puzzled Mon 05-Oct-20 16:29:50

And I thought that Switzerland was the only place where you get told off for stepping on the joints in the pavement!
Everyone has different needs in their lives.
As long as we don'y behave without consideration for others, (Doing beaten copper work at 5 am, or testing a speedway bike at 11 pm)
If there is one thing I can't stand, it's intolerance!

ValerieF Mon 05-Oct-20 15:47:39

Nowadays there is no difference in a Sunday from any other day of the week. If you are religious then you may find it distasteful in that Sunday should be the day of rest. Personally although I am a churchgoer, I absolutely HATED Sundays in the past!

IF you only find it an annoyance because you want to have peace and quiet on a Sunday, then will never happen again.

Instead so long as they don't start at 6 a.m. and presumably you live in a house like the rest of us with Spotify, Netflix, Amazon and numerous radio channels to choose from? Just turn it on and forget it all. Nobody can live in the past.

Aepgirl Mon 05-Oct-20 15:32:01

Whatever day or time garden work is done it will upset somebody. Personally I detest Friday nights when many of the locals think it’s a good idea to meet on somebody’s front lawn and drink and sing into the early hours.

Bijou Mon 05-Oct-20 15:23:37

Not only on Sundays but every day of the week there is sawing, drilling and banging from do it do it selfers next door and the end of my garden. I have to sit in the front garden where the noise is not so bad but I cannot see the birds and there are less flowers.
When I was young I was not allowed to sew or knit on a Sunday.

Grammaretto Mon 05-Oct-20 15:17:22

My 1960s were different from yours jaylucy. The shops were closed, true, but then there was no expectation to do housework either. As children, we sometimes went to church and Sunday school but afternoons were for visiting, playing games, reading and enjoying being outdoors and for cooking and eating which is what I am nostalgic for.

I don't think it is more rules we need but an acceptance that Sunday is different and slower than the rest of the week. After retirement, it is just as important to keep the separation.

The BBC try their best by not announcing the time every 5 minutes and having churchy programmes on Sunday mornings.

It's not the sound of a lawnmower I was objecting to or children playing, but the industrial strimmer (brushcutter) and building work going on. They had ear defenders but I didn't. Not your normal DIY though we used to have a neighbour we called Bob the Builder who never stopped.

Paperbackwriter Mon 05-Oct-20 15:04:31

We have a gun club across the river which seems ONLY to operate on Sundays!
Not sure about everyone else in the nation, but noisy building work is not allowed here under local regulations, unless it's a spot of small-scale DIY. Certainly no commercial builders should be working. Next-door has a leaf blower that he seems to adore. It is not only incredibly noisy but is fuelled by something that smells horrible. And when he's done the leaves he's got another gadget for washing his car and another for hoovering the inside of it. The joy.

Jillybird Mon 05-Oct-20 14:52:21

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Jillybird Mon 05-Oct-20 14:47:57

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Grannygrumps1 Mon 05-Oct-20 14:37:49

Yes you are being unreasonable.

Kim19 Mon 05-Oct-20 14:32:33

Guess I'm kind of 'live and let live'. As a matter of fact, one of the first things I try to do in the morning is work out which day it actually is. Even more difficult at the moment with no church bells pealing to the faithful. I take alternative action if anything is really bothering me. Can't even remember when that last happened. I also think there are enough 'rules' to be going on with at the moment.

nahsma Mon 05-Oct-20 13:50:15

Grammaretto

I have just learned that in some apartment blocks in Switzerland it is illegal to flush the toilet after 10pm! OK I guess that is extreme but one of the best things about lockdown at the start was the lack of noise. Otters have come back to our city centre ponds and waterways, and not having the drone of aeroplanes was a bonus.
Now we have even more traffic as nobody can car share and many are still avoiding public transport.

Not just no flushing, gentlemen are asked to pee sitting down!

3nanny6 Mon 05-Oct-20 13:44:14

Granmmaretto I do not think you are being unreasonable to want Sundays to be different from the rest of the week although these days it usually isn't.
It was lucky for you to have some sun yesterday as all we have had for the last few days where I live has been rain.
It is winter coming on now so there is not too much noise from neighbouring lawn mowers but I do not like the summertime as Sundays always bring out the early morning lawn mower brigade sometimes as early as 8.30 am. Along with the lawn mowers the teenagers will be playing their music. All I want in the summer is some peace.

Saggi Mon 05-Oct-20 13:40:22

Unless you work all week ...yes ...you are being unreasonable. There’s nothing special about Sunday’s.... I know and my husband knew because we were both shift workers! Sunday is the only day a lot of people get to do stuff ( repairs, gardening,maintenance work) it’s unreasonable to expect them to do this after a days work....because folk would still complain as it’s the ‘evening’..

Maggiemaybe Mon 05-Oct-20 13:39:53

grinWe had a police raid at our German house in the middle of the night, Newatthis. Fortunately they had the wrong address and I presume the person they were after had done something more serious than flushing his toilet at bedtime. grin