Chris Saul's Blog

Sunday October 12, 2008

Noise

I'm getting a bit worried about the amount of noise coming through to our bedroom from next door.

Considering this is meant to be a high quality, live-your-dream-burble-burble development, I don't think I should be able to hear someone next door moving a chair around or saying 'coochie coo' to their baby in the morning. Our neighbours don't seem to be being particularly noisy or anti-social at all - they're just going about their daily business.

Mysteriously, all this extra noise seems to have started just after the warranty period expired. I should have logged a pre-emptive call the moment I heard a door bang during the time that the warranty was still valid.

Having the air-conditioning on makes a difference - hardly surprising that air blowing through the vents masks other noises.

I suspect that I'm noticing the noise now as both we and next door are no longer keeping the AC on during the day. I'm wondering if the difference in noise is simply due to the lack of fans blowing, or whether vents face in different directions when the fans are off, allowing sound to pass through. Having bathroom doors open seems to make a difference as well - noise seems to travel through bathroom vents particularly efficiently.

I expect that the answer from the developer will be along the lines of 'we don't care, you've made money on it so why are you complaining, we're astonished you actually want to live there'. I also expect that we'll get helpful suggestions about simply leaving our AC on whether we need it or not, as well as keeping our bathroom doors shut.

Either way, I'm not impressed. Building the development we're in is an incredible achievement, but surely the aim is to build quality residences that people will want to live in for years to come. I don't think being disturbed by noise from next door every morning represents quality workmanship.

I will start saving egg boxes to stick on the wall of our live-your-dream-burble-burble apartment.

(PS - I do love living here, really. I just get fed up with the lack of attention to detail and the silly decisions that get made which make such a difference to long term quality of life).

Right - that's one rant over. I will now call the maintenance people to chase up the water heater that's still not working, several weeks after the old one failed and the ceiling was ripped down to replace it with a new one which doesn't work either.

Ouch

6 months ago we got an amazing new mattress - no turn miracoil remembering moulding back loving wondressnesss. I'd been waking up with my back aching, so we'd decided to splash out on something better for me to sleep on than the 7 year old cheapo I'd bought when I got here in 2002.

At first, the new mattress was a revelation. Firm, comfy, no back stiffness at all. A great side effect is that one person can get in or out of the bed without the other side of the mattress moving at all. Great for not disturbing a sleeping Saul.

Since coming back from Las Vegas though, my back's started to ache in the morning again. Ouch - I call it traveller's back, where the top part of my back aches after too ling in an economy seat. It looks like my side of the amazing no turn miracoil remembering moulding back loving wondressnesss has started to sink. It's not remembering or remembering or loving my back particularly anymore. Is this because I'm too heavy? Surely not!

This shouldn't be a problem, as it came with a guarantee. Although we're usually careful with receipts, this one seems to have gone walkabout though. I'm sure the company has a record of our purchase and I'll be able to find it on my credit card - that said, this kind of thing is usually difficult in Dubai.

I predict two outcomes. One involves going to the shop where we bought the mattress and getting a replacement sorted out instantly. The second involves a lengthy battle, which will finish with getting a replacement sorted out.

I will keep you updated on my thrilling mattress story.