Whistling Neighbour

[HettySunshine]

Obviously not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, however, please allow me to vent!

The close where I lie is a lovely old hodge podge of houses all facing in different directions, our front garden faces the side of our across the road neighbour's back garden and mine & DH's bedroom and dd2's bedroom are at the front the house.

The couple across the road have lived there since they got married about 50 years ago and as they're on the corner seem themselves as the gatekeepers of the close, they talk to everyone who comes into the close and comment on all visitor's roadside parking, state of people's gardens, children, habits etc etc.

None of this bothers me too much, they're not unpleasant and give us veggies from their garden everyone now and again.

But OH MY GOD the man whistles ALL THE TIME when he's outside. Last night it was until passed 10.30pm and he started before 7am this morning. It causes havoc with dd2's bedtime and woke her (and me!) up this morning. It echos round the close and is so loud!

WWYD? We've not been here long but we love our perfectly imperfect house and don't want to upset anyone.

Feels
Like whistling has decreased since I was a child. When I hear it I have a moment of nostalgia almost - then I just want it to stop.
Good luck managing this op.

I've quit a job before because my boss refused to stop whistling. In all fairness there were other factors but that was the nail in the coffin

I would find it really irritating and would speak to him. It might be that he is a wee bit deaf so doesn't realise how loud he is. I think you need to make it clear how annoying it is.

Oh dear. Guilty. I have music in my head constantly and I find myself whistling at odd moments, when emptying the dishwasher, tidying the kitchen, folding dried washing, working in the garage etc. My father and grandfather were whistlers so I suppose I picked it up from them.

Soon after we moved to our house 31 years ago our neighbour made an indirect complaint about my whistling in the garden while we were at a get-together for drinks. Since then I’ve tried (not always successfully) to curb the habit while outside. His approach was to say to the group of neighbours in the course of a conversation about outside noise “There’s them over the back with their barking dog, them a few doors down with their screaming kids and (pointing at me) him with his bloody whistling!” Oooh, I thought; point taken.

I think it would be worth a friendly chat. Then hopefully even though it's a habit of his he'll catch himself and stop. If he's reasonable.

Failing that, if your DD2 uses dummies perhaps you could donate one to him!

I would probably move if my neighbour was a whistler.

I can go from calm to raging in about 5 seconds of hearing someone whistle. Fucking ridiculous habit.

If he's been married 50 years, you are expecting a man of 70+ to stop the habit of sixty or more years.
Seriously - whistling wakes you up?
Are you sure he's not playing a miniature trumpet?

Same goes for humming. I used to work in an open plan office with a tea making area to the side that I was sat near.

Every time hummy bollocks made a tea he'd do this weird hum/singing thing the entire time his tea was brewing. Really dramatic high and low pitch noises.

When I was 36 weeks pregnant in a heat wave I had to leave the room whenever he made one. It was just too much to handle!!

@HettySunshine

You could ask him to stop. Good luck though. We have self-appointed police in our area too. Several couples who have been her since God was a boy, and they are mostly nice and helpful - as long as you don't get on the wrong side of them. We are lucky to live at LEAST 2-3 minutes walk from any of them.

Good luck!

YANBU obviously. Random tuneless whistling is soooooo annoying. See also; humming!

Post an anonymous request to stop the whistling. Consider composing your message using individual letters snipped from the newspaper - I always find this has a rather chilling effect on the recipient.

Aw he sounds lovely.

I think it’s like traffic noise, you’ll get used to it. It would be incredibly mean to ask him not to.

@onalongsabbatical 😂😂😂😂 this thread has made me laugh. Yes whistling and humming can be annoying but usually it's a habit they don't realise they are doing. I wouldn't move because of whistling lol there are far worse things your neighbours could be doing!

We are relatively new to our area too and have a nosey old woman opposite always curtain twitching and commenting on people's comings and goings! She is annoying, always gossiping about the local kids playing out or people's parking, over her front garden to the other old dears who potter past to get their paper in the morning.

One of our neighbours is a whistler, I started whistling back each and ever time I heard it. Like an echoing bird call. Even got the kids in on the act. A community band of whistlers. Worked a treat for drawing his attention to it and he hardly does it now.

Kill him. Not a court on the land would convict you.

Or beg him to stop. I feel for you. Whistling makes me murderous.

I am afraid to report that this thread has encouraged me to see if I can still whistle (was a good but I frequent whistler at some stage in childhood). Brief bursts of tentative but increasingly tuneful whistling may have startled neighbours. Hmmm was quite fun.

Recrudescence that has really made me chuckle!

Ah I love whistling. Because in this house its my 12yo old and hearing him happily whistling through the house makes me smile because it took a long time for him to be happy

However, I doubt any of our neighbours hear it, and he doesnt do it outside at 7am! That would probably drive me potty too!

Aw he sounds lovely.

I think it’s like traffic noise, you’ll get used to it. It would be incredibly mean to ask him not to.*

Does he? I’ve read the OP again and don’t really think he sounds ‘lovely’. Giving the OP veggies occasionally is nice enough but not ‘lovely’. Are you creating some sort of Dad’s Army stereotype of an elderly man in your head?

My dh thinks he can whistle. He can't. He just makes a high pitched eeeeeeeee noise. Makes me feel stabby.

My youngest son has stared this recently.. he’s either shouting at fortnite or whistling completely tuneless noise. I can’t stand either and it’s driving me and OH up the frickin wall!

Bellende is making me laugh.

Oh god my husband does this and it pisses me off. I threw an egg at him last time and he stopped.

I'm not suggesting you egg your neighbour but it did work for my husband.

I would honestly speak to him about it. If you don't then one morning you will snap and scream "shut the fuck up" out of the window. And that would be much worse for neighbourly relations...

I agree with onalongsabbatical but instead of playing music loudly which is likely to annoy and therefor alienate you from your other neighbours could you download bird songs , Spotify have loads out there everything form British song birds , tropical , some with instrumental backing others ( which I prefer ) that are just birds singing. The pitch of the birds singing is more likely to cover the chaps whistling than music would IMO
I like this one - open.spotify.com/playlist/1VH3C9x4FnSOMclvyiHzto .

( the child in me also thinks it would be funny to watch your neighbours trying to find the birds they can hear )

For the love of your bladder , if you are anything like me don't get one of the ones with water falls / waves/ rain in them !

I think I'd have to yell shut the fuck up with the fucking whistling shiiiiiiiiit!

I'm such a laydee