I've found that earplugs at night improve my neighbors immensely. Every unit has bedrooms facing the parking lot. Why doesn't anyone seem to know this?

One more note on the former loud amorous upstairs neighbors. Upon completion, there was always a heavy-footed walk to the bathroom. Every time.

No cuddle time - just a dash to the can.

This thread reminds me why I hated appartment living.

Of course there was the time when I was taking my family with two young children to church one sunday morning when I lived in a trailer park only to see some young girl who looked like Ozzy Ozborn smoking crack on the next door deck 5 feet away. We moved the next month after the knife fight in the street right in front of our double wide.

Did someone here call my neighbors? They finally trimmed their huge oleanders.

I had fogotten about my white trash neighbors... They lived on a different stree, but the way things are configured, their back yard seemed to create a sound tunnel into my patio. They tend to have drunken family parties at least once a month. One night I was sitting in my patio, it was around 1am. I got to hear a couple having a knock down, drag out. It went on for quite a while. Someone had even started throwing beer bottles. From my perch I got to hear the entire thing. It had started when a woman refused to give her drunk man the keys to the car. At one point he had jumped on her and was pinning her down, choking her. It was really bad.
They moved last week... into a house across the street from where they were.

We had terrible upstairs neighbors in our last apartment. They complained about how loud we were - HELLO! You're upstairs from us. We can hear EVERYTHING you do. Every time you step on the floor. Every time you walk anywhere. Everytime your kids jump around, play, whatever. WE HEAR IT! and yet - I just accepted that as part of living in not just an apartment, but one that was built in the 50's. THe walls were thin. But what can you do.

Apparently one can call the manager over and over until you are deemed trouble and get evicted. Luckily for us, we'd been looking to move for a few weeks and basically told them we weren't sticking around for more abuse. See ya - wouldn't want to be ya. We later found out that the upstairs neigbors moved into our apartment and another neighbor moved in to theirs. We wondered if it had been a set up - but didn't care. After all - we may still be renters - but renting a house is a big step up from common walls.

Aside from all that - I've found that having a fan running creates a nice white noise that blocks out a heck of a lot. Great in summer for the heat - but we run it year round and don't hear a thing - even in the people next door are having a party.

When we lived downstairs Maddy had a few girls over for a sleepover. I think they were all around 6 or 7 and a for a few it was their first sleepover. So they were a little nervous around bedtime. I told them I'd stay out there with them until they fell asleep so they wouldn't be nervous.

So the girls are all settling in and it's nice and quiet. Then my upstairs neighbor, nice guy but has a deep BOOMING voice, starts getting some. Yup full on "oh God" and "yea Baby" and well some more graphic phrases.

So now I'm freaking out a bit as there's no way the girls aren't hearing it. And you know one of them is going to ask what's going on. What I can I say to explain it? What's age approproiate? What will they tell their parents? Will they ever be allowed to sleepover again?

Thank goodness none of them asked. And it went on for quite some time. Otherwise I honestly never heard much from him up there. Vaccuming and when he opened his sliding glass doors. But of course the one time I've got a bunch of girls in my living room he gets lucky - in his living room.

This weekend we were soaking in our community hot tub. Very few people use it and it was empty when we got in. But about 10 minutes later, a neighbor showed up.

Aging jock type, not quite middle aged but well on his way. He started out with a swim in the pool, then got out to head for the spa and decided to insert himself into our conversation. His opening line, "Man, I hurt myself partying this weekend."

And it went downhill from there. It was only a matter of time before he was splashing us with near-cannonballs into the spa and telling us all about the good old days of the condo complex 20 years ago when you could use the community room w/pool table any time you wanted. Yes, nothing says winner more than bragging about living in the same bland condo complex for 20 years.

The people in the end unit of the building perpendicular to mine (their "front" door (which is on the side of the unit) overlooks my back patio) are renters. Stupid, obnoxious, trailer trash renters. Generally the complex is fairly quiet. The walls are fairly thick, so for music to be heard between units it has to be REALLY loud. The renters like to open up their door and windows and either blast music from inside or open up their car doors and blast music from their parking spot so they can sit outside on their driveway in those tacky woven-strap lawn chairs and drink their beer and holler at passing traffic. Because their taste in music is so refined that it simply MUST be shared with the rest of us, who are too stupid to realize that the sounds of birds and frogs (we're surrounded by wetlands) are far inferior to the sweet, soothing sounds of gangsta' rap.

Pru: there's a cure for that... it's called high-decibel opera :)

Oooh, or if you can stand it... country. Then when they bitch about how annoying it is, tell em now they know how it feels :)