There are days when I want to pick up sticks and move to a shack on top of some remote mountain somewhere. Quite a few of them in fact.

I think the neighbouring family’s parents are on holiday. They’ve left at least one kid at home, who’s probably about 15 – at a guess. So what happens? Night after night of living with a bunch of children smoking, drinking, and making a ruckus in the garden next door (right below our bedroom window.) Twice on weeknights, well after midnight, I’ve had to tell them to shut up. Last night at 1AM. Of course, they just bloody laugh.

What can I do? Stuff all it turns out. If you report this sort of thing to the police here they just record the details, but it isn’t an issue they can look into. They refer you on to the “environment office,” whose purpose is really to handle ongoing noise complaints. Not a week of partying. The problem is too once-off, well, it bloody better be. It took me three nights of sleeplessness to go as far as to try calling the cops, frankly it seems a waste of police time. It was a desperate measure.

So, I seem to be stuck with the situation. I’ve hardly slept in two nights, now I’m in a violently bad mood, depressed, and bloody tired. A great combination. I’ll have a go at the parents when they return, assuming my current level of anger carries through. I’m not a confrontational type of person. Meanwhile, it seems we just have to live with no sleep for a week. Poor Kat has to be out of the house before 7AM, of course, the kids couldn’t give a crap.

What else can I do? I can think of a couple of possibilities. Talk to whoever the appropriate child protection body is, I’m sure kids that age shouldn’t be left on their own at home to drink and smoke all night. I don’t think this is appropriate, it’d be a pretty nasty thing to do, though it’d probably not come to anything. I don’t hate my neighbours, just their children. Alternatively, confront them in person if it happens again this evening and hope that one of the asshats physically assaults me – then the bloody police can get involved. No, neither of these are appropriate options. As for the latter, in a country where kids routinely stab each other to death I’m just keeping the bloody doors locked and 999 on quick-dial.

Frustrated, stressed, and damn tired. I’ll try my best not to stick my gardening fork through any stupid 15 year old heads. Might see about sleeping in a front room instead of the back, will need to put new curtains in today though as there are none and there’s a street-light out front.