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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

My neighbour won’t stop singing!

56 replies

Twobecomingthreeplusthedog · 14/08/2022 12:38

I live in a detached house, but my garden backs onto another property which is a flat type house. Their windows open side on to my garden.

Whenever the weather is nice she sings. Not just normal singing, window open absolutely belting out songs. They’re always musical songs and I’m not talking an hour or two of singing. I’m taking 5-6 hours every day at full pelt.

The worst part, she thinks she’s an amazing singer. She’s mediocre.

I have wanted to enjoy my garden whilst the weather is nice but unless I wear headphones all I can hear is Susan Boyle in my garden like a private show. If I wear headphones I don’t hear the baby monitor when my little one is sleeping.

Yesterday I put Spotify on my phone, on full volume to see if it would drown her out. It didn’t make a dent.

AIBU to ask her to keep her singing to 2 hours a day when she has windows and doors fully
open? Other neighbours are also annoyed but haven’t said anything directly to her.

OP posts:
MarmiteCoriander · 14/08/2022 13:34

I had something vaguely similar years ago- but it was high pitched screeching/screaming of their children.

I recorded it and played it back in the evening. It was toned down from then on!

If you are leaving anyways- why not do that?

  • Anonymous, made up letter in the post from 'environmental health dept'
  • Numbers to singing lessons
  • Anonymous letter just to keep it down
billy1966 · 14/08/2022 13:36

Make a complaint as a parting gift to your neighbours.

What a vain PITA.

There is nothing worse than a very mediocre singer thinking they are fantastic.
🙄painful.

At very rare gatherings that a certain distant family member on my husband's side attend, we have a woman like this.

At a certain point late in the evening she might offer to sing.
Her husbands face is a picture.
We move away from the vicinity as I think it is beyond vain and tedious.

She murders "Country roads" in particular 🤣

mbosnz · 14/08/2022 13:47

Something along the lines of what I did to an aspiring drummer?

I lost the plot after multiple days of multiple hours of drumming, and yelled out, 'FFS, with all this practice you should be getting better, but holy hell, I didn't think it was possible, but you're getting worse!'

The drums shut up. The garage door went down. A couple of weeks later me and the neighbours were waving a drum set a very cheery goodbye as it went on a trailer down the street. . .

Original poster
Twobecomingthreeplusthedog · 14/08/2022 14:29

She’s currently gone on a late lunch break. No doubt to recharge her vocals for the finale tonight.

OP posts:
Original poster
Twobecomingthreeplusthedog · 14/08/2022 14:31

MarmiteCoriander · 14/08/2022 13:34

I had something vaguely similar years ago- but it was high pitched screeching/screaming of their children.

I recorded it and played it back in the evening. It was toned down from then on!

If you are leaving anyways- why not do that?

  • Anonymous, made up letter in the post from 'environmental health dept'
  • Numbers to singing lessons
  • Anonymous letter just to keep it down

Because whilst we are moving away…we also work in the same office, and sit opposite each other….which makes this 100 times harder 😂

OP posts:
BMW6 · 14/08/2022 14:32

Oh I'd join in and ask neighbours too as well.

cinnamonbiscuit · 14/08/2022 14:36

Omg 😂OP I’m a classical singer for my job, so I spend quite a lot of time practising but this would drive me absolutely insane. I limit my practise to half an hour at a time, no more than twice a day and never after 7pm. Maybe you could get her to agree to something like this?

Abitofalark · 14/08/2022 14:49

I voted you are not being unreasonable. However I think you are unreasonable to propose to her that she do this for two hours a day. That would be inviting torture upon yourself for two hours a day instead of five or six.

There's a choice here for someone like her and it's not that. It's either shut your windows and sing all day if you want or open your windows and doors and don't sing.

Please be more robust in your own interest and ask her to turn that blooming thing off and if she doesn't, blast back some very loud noise that will surely be effective.

roundtable · 14/08/2022 14:50

This could be my dh and one of my DC op.

Sorry on their behalf. I am constantly telling them to stfu and shutting windows. DC has the volume of Brian Blessed and has no tune or knowledge of the words and dh sings the same few lines over and over and over...

We're lucky we have tolerant neighbours. I am not so tolerant.

TokyoTen · 14/08/2022 15:00

I'd shout "shut up" through a window! 5-6 hours a day sounds a completel nightmare. Either that or treat her to come Linkin Park (or similar) at full volume through a meaty sound system - from experience with my extremely noisy, arguing neighbours who regularly kicked off in the flat next door to me at 2am it is VERY effective.

Original poster
Twobecomingthreeplusthedog · 14/08/2022 18:32

roundtable · 14/08/2022 14:50

This could be my dh and one of my DC op.

Sorry on their behalf. I am constantly telling them to stfu and shutting windows. DC has the volume of Brian Blessed and has no tune or knowledge of the words and dh sings the same few lines over and over and over...

We're lucky we have tolerant neighbours. I am not so tolerant.

Definitely not them! A single woman!

She had a 45 breather before this afternoons practise which lasted another hour and 45 before she finally went out.

Thankfully we’re both at work tomorrow so she won’t be stretching her lungs for at least another 4 days with any luck.

OP posts:
girlfriend44 · 14/08/2022 18:35

Better than dogs barking or a cock crowing early.

dmask · 14/08/2022 18:41

Try harmonising with her with some over the top Mariah Carey style warbling. Or sing the next line a beat too quickly like an out of sync round robin.
But seriously, have you mentioned it at all to her? Do you think (considering you work together and know each other), she’s doing this in order to get your attention to ‘compliment’ her singing?

Sunnyqueen · 14/08/2022 18:48

You need a loud speaker, do you have an alexa? Just blast the music you want to listen to through that

Badger1970 · 14/08/2022 19:09

You need an air horn. Or two.

And blast it every time she starts.

MayMoveMayNot · 14/08/2022 19:13

PollyRockets · 14/08/2022 12:51

Download the xfactor buzzer app and press it every time

GrinGrinGrin

CrappyJob · 14/08/2022 19:13

Did anyone else read the op to get more info, in order to eliminate yourself as the neighbour? 😬

(I don't think it's me...)

BreadInCaptivity · 14/08/2022 19:26

Best idea below is record it and play it back LOUD.

Most people think they sing better than they do.

Hearing it for herself might be a wake up call....

vipersnest1 · 14/08/2022 19:32

I had similar with a neighbour who held loud telephone calls in her garden.
Eventually I faked a phone call myself, bellowing 'I'm going to have to call you back. Someone's talking really loudly and I can't hear you.'
She did tone it down after that. Grin

SarahProblem · 14/08/2022 19:40

Say to her :

"Hey neighbour....who sings that song?"

And when she tells you say

"Yeah let's keep it that way"

35965a · 14/08/2022 19:47

Belt it out louder and even worse than her. Like really loud.

Once a nearby neighbour had some really bad music playing and it was loud. So I put music on just as loud, shitty pop. They must have realised as within 10mins they’d turned theirs off 😂 immediately turned mine off too and enjoyed the silence.

secretfreckle · 14/08/2022 20:15

Say to her :

"Hey neighbour....who sings that song?"

And when she tells you say

"Yeah let's keep it that way"

Love this!😂

Mookie81 · 14/08/2022 21:38

You could always join her 😆

BeingATwatItsABingThing · 14/08/2022 21:45

SarahProblem · 14/08/2022 19:40

Say to her :

"Hey neighbour....who sings that song?"

And when she tells you say

"Yeah let's keep it that way"

As my DH says to his mother every time she starts destroying songs:

”Do you know why X sang this song? So you don’t have to!”