As promised in my post about life without internet, here's the full story of our move due to neighbor nuisance. What kind? Honestly, just about everything imaginable.
We loved our ground-floor row house for three years. Friendly neighbors we chatted with regularly—a rarity in the city—and a spacious garden perfect for barbecues with friends or sunny afternoons. Ideal for two students!
That changed when new upstairs neighbors arrived. We'd just welcomed our daughter, Luana, and hoped for a playmate. Our landlord said they were a young couple (19 and 20) expecting a baby. Unfortunately, friendship was out of the question.
They blasted loud music late into the night, smoked marijuana (the stench seeped downstairs), bickered loudly, and threw objects around. This wasn't occasional—it was nightly. The noise woke Luana hourly, and us too, amid the pervasive marijuana odor.
My partner, Tino, repeatedly asked them politely to quiet down. They'd apologize vaguely while high, promise to ease up, then resume immediately. Even police visits didn't deter them.
Pushed to the Limit by Nuisance Neighbors
One night around 3 a.m., a loud bang and piercing scream jolted us. Tino checked from the garden; the neighbor was smoking on the balcony. When asked to calm down, he yelled we were the problem—on a quiet Wednesday night. Asked about the bang, he claimed, "My girlfriend fell out of bed." Shocking, as she was eight months pregnant.
The next day, we visited with Luana in tow, desperate for resolution. Only she was home, heavily pregnant, answering the door in a top and thong. After an awkward talk, she promised they'd consider our baby. On the bang: "I tripped over the microwave after falling out of bed." Their stories didn't add up—we'd caught inconsistencies before, like her denying marijuana use despite seeing her smoke.
Youth services did nothing. Nightly fights and weed aren't ideal for an unborn child, but who were we to interfere? We hoped parenthood would change them. It didn't.
TO BE CONTINUED
PS: Ever dealt with nuisance neighbors? Share your neighbor dispute stories—I'm curious how you handled it!
