My friend's "noisy neighbour" disturbances, plus my son 's health etc.

Hi again.

Today I am expecting my son to come home for the weekend - we are going to a big church celebration meeting tomorrow up in Northampton (the Midlands). He has still not opened his birthday presents from last Wednesday, when he was 29. He has gone to an AA meeting and a local Drug/Alcohol advice session this afternoon, to further his treatment. I am waiting for him now - I hope he gets back OK on the bus.

This morning at 8.30 am I had hardly been up for any time, when the phone rang and it was not Tom but my friend J. I should have gone to see her this afternoon. However, she was in a highly upset state. Once again she had been disturbed by her neighbours (a young couple) in the flat upstairs of her, and also by the male tenant in the ground floor flat adjacent to her. This has been an ongoing problem for her nearly all the time she has lived there - about 4 years. She is in a council maisonette (2 floors). The people upstairs are private tenants, but quite young people - the husband is a soldier just back from Iraq. Whenever he is there, they have noisy parties, visitors, talk a lot, stay up nearly all night, or get up early and do loud household jobs and drilling work. They never seem to sleep! The floor is thin, and she hears every sound. She has tried complaining, but it does not work.

The man next door to her on ground floor is a "smack-head" and "lowlife" who drinks a lot - he has groups of loud, drunken people in, and they crash about and break things, windows, etc. Also they are very intimidating. Other people near there have complained about them, but these people always back down or pretend it does'nt bother them. It is left to J., the most affected, to take it up with the Council; she has written and telephoned several times. The council seem to "write her off" as a mentally disturbed, anxious woman, and have not acted so far. There is a middle-class, wealthy neighbour who has also been affected, but she has not pursued any complaint - it is too much hassle for her, as she could not get through to the Council. J. does not know what else to do. She can't take sleeping pills, and can't afford to move. She could only do a council flat swap, but this could be to somewhere much worse, with anti-social kids and crime. In some ways where she lives is very pleasant - in a largely middle-class area, and near Richmond Park's Kingston side; it is quiet during the day - always OK when I am there. J. had lost too much sleep to have me over there - she also had to cancel me a few times previously due to this.

J. has made a series of complaints, and tried (but failed) to get her other neighbours to sign a joint letter - but the council officials seem to regard her as just a nuisance, and don't take her seriously. She had brought a case against them about a year ago (on another matter); also her then psychiatric social worker was no good, and she complained about that. She felt she was not giving her proper support, and was critical of her. She is under the medical service for anxiety, but is perfectly sane. I can't help her - she needs rehousing somewhere decent, or else really good legal advice. People like ourselves could spend money on this and buy another home with quieter neighbours, but she has no funds. She has no-one to back her up on the doorstep, in confronting her difficult neighbours. The council made her give up the last lovely, big white female Italian Maremmese dog she had, so she feels she can't get another dog for company. A cat (I suggested one) would get run over on the road outside. She walks someone else's dog daily for peanuts money.

Anyway that is it for now. My son has come home - he is OK, but wants to be fed and watered! A cup of tea for all, and a supper before he goes to another AA meeting. I will fill in on other events next week. The big church meeting - also some extra teaching I have reluctantly agreed to do next Tuesday (as cover for a colleague) and on another evening later in the month. Tom is in good spirits. God bless and goodbye,

Love, Tigey.