Shoe by Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelly for January 26, 2024

Wear a loud shirt…..

Soundproofing

Bag pipes and accordions.

The American way.

Turn off your hearing aids.

I’ve heard of a conflict once where a bunch of partiers kept playing loud rock music outside. One older guy couldn’t get any satisfaction from the authorities, so he put out his big speakers and played classical music at high volume.

Being louder might get the result you want. It is generally not the best way. It might even make things even worse.

One summer I had the local police on speed dial because of my next-door neighbour. It was his teenage boy who turned up the volume whenever Mom & Dad went away for the weekend. I saw the neighbour a couple of days later and he said: “I understand my boy was a little noisy while we were away.”“No problem,” said I, with a big smile. “Did you know that it only takes the police 3 minutes to respond to a noise complaint?” Never heard a peep from either him or the kid ….

My favorite way to deal with my neighbor’s dirty rap? Beethoven’s Fifth on max volume.

And then the neighbor will call the cops on ya.

I had a neighbor whose neighbors on the other side played rap music really loud. He put a speaker facing them and played country music loud. And he didn’t even like country music. The neighbors got the hint and turned their music down, and he and the neighbors became friends.

With Crowder!!

I once had a real lunatic for a next-door neighbor. I ended up selling the home and moving. He needed some serious help.

Yes. Fighting fire with fire always works!

Even worse, to me, is when all I can’t hear the tune but can hear the bass blasting away, shaking the house.

My Dad once ‘out-louded’ the neighbor’s rock music with a powerful classic piece. They got the hint.

Vivaldi, I hope