BOXING DAY BLUES

For 3 days now my daytime nappings have been violently disturbed by my bass-playing neighbour Paul. This has been an ongoing problem since we moved in here almost 5 years ago. It started with his stereo bursting into life at 7:30 every morning, and then he'd crank up the volume while he went and had a shower. It took a lot of complaining, but we finally got that to stop, then his dad went and bought him a bass guitar and a 25 watt amp, and we had to endure the excruciating sounds of him trying to tune the fucking thing at quite high volumes, and then trying to play it. I made uncountable complaints to the council and the police, and the latter were far more helpful and effective, even though the responsibility resides with the former to get it sorted. The council installed noise monitoring equipment, which for some reason didn't work. The police actually arrested him on one occasion when he'd been particularly abusive, and the final sanction was to thresten to confiscate his equipment.
Finally, his dad built him a soundproof room, with which I was most impressed. He also told us that Paul would come and check with us if it was OK for him to play loudly. To date he has never once done this.
I hope this is not a sign that hostilities are about to recommence. The police have attended today, and I have sent an email to the council bloke in charge of noise nuisance.
Despite this, Christmas has passed fairly uneventfully. I am pleased with my efforts to get in touch with the people I should be in touch with. I managed to get all the christmas cards sent out to the various rangers with details about the christmas dinner proposals, and I now understand why nobody seems to want the job of Liaison Ranger.
I still have a few letters to write, and I'm determined not to let these wait until I forget about them.
I have not been going to the gym, and I missed out on the curry night with the mediation class, and the meal at the old folks' home, which I was very annoyed about, but a New Year is approaching, with a new regime, so it's time to ring some changes.