The Noises that drive you mad

**Propagator** · 13-04-2007, 03:43 AM

So what noise is it that really gets your hackles up?

The list below was published in the Daily Telegraph of 12.04.07, whilst I realise that not all of the items listed apply in Thailand many do.

The noises that drive us mad

Last Updated: 1:11am BST 12/04/2007

Home
Neighbours arguing
DIY enthusiasts
Slamming doors
Loud televisions and stereos
House burglar alarms
Laminate flooring
Snoring
Noisy sex
Barking dogs
Late night parties
Young children
Parents who leave babies to cry as part of “controlled crying” techniques
Loud toys
Garden
Barbecues and outdoor gatherings
Trampolines and paddling/swimming pools
Hi-fi speakers hidden in plastic rocks
Spouting water in ponds
Fireworks
Wind chimes
Bird scarers
Aviaries
Early morning cockerel crowing
Lawn mowers
Street
Roadworks
Loose manhole covers
Building works
Traffic noise
Refuse collections
Bottle banks
Milk deliveries/crates
Metal dustbin lids
Skateboard ramps
Pedestrian crossings
Buskers
Lorry deliveries to local supermarkets in high density areas
Town and country
Pub gardens
Air conditioning units
Night clubs
Church bells
Muzak in shopping centres/gyms/hotel lifts
Transport
Cars going over road humps
'Warning, this vehicle is reversing'
Train horns
Planes, especially night flights
Helicopters
Constant announcements on the train/Underground
Mobile phones, especially on trains
Emergency service sirens
Noisy car/motorcycle exhausts
Buses
Car alarms
Car stereos

I suppose the worst for me is the emergency service sirens. Usually can hear them from a good half mile away, and then am constantly looking around to find out in what direction they are travelling.

I do fail to see how spouting water in ponds can have been classed as an annoying noise. I find it most relaxing apart from the fact that if listening to it to long find that I want a pee - urgently

Please add your own most annoying noises.

Like stupid ring tones to mobile phones set on maximum volume.

**danbo** · 13-04-2007, 04:02 AM

This is an easy one - Noisy motorbikes. Not any motorbike, only the ones where the idiot owner has removed the baffler, or muffler, or whatever the thing is called.

I take your point about sirens prop, but I think it would be a little impractical for an fire engine to play a flute concerto as it sped along.

**RDN** · 13-04-2007, 04:06 AM

Originally Posted by Propagator

So what noise is it that really gets your hackles up?...

Hmm, this could be a century thread.

This one for me:

Home
Neighbours arguing

A few weeks ago the crazy French or Italian (haven't worked out what he is yet) guy who lives over the road was shouting at his Thai wife, so I went out to have a listen and noticed that a couple of my Thai neighbours were also having a listen and a good laugh.

This one reminds me of my ex-g/f's place in Bkk:

Street
Loose manhole covers

All bl00dy night long: clunk-clunk. I stayed there only once.

Some of my neighbours' dogs bark a bit, but usually only for a short time. Another dog comes around every day at about 5:30 pm when the owner takes it for a walk - the owner on a bike, the dog running behind. Total mayhem ensues for a minute or so as the dog passes the locked gates of my neighbours and their dogs go crazy. This happens every day and I'm sure my neighbours' dogs wait for this dog to come by so they can have a good bark.

I've noticed that one of my neighbour's dogs barks every time I make a cup of tea. Makes me laugh. Must irritate the hell out of my neighbour. I guess my whistling kettle works well.

**danbo** · 13-04-2007, 04:07 AM

Metal Dustbin Lids

Hardly a constant din one would think.

This does remind me of that 'musical' Stomp though. How long would it be for you before the novelty of watching someone dancing with dustbin lids tied their feet became mental torture? I'd give myself about 10 minutes before I broke down crying.

**Spin** · 13-04-2007, 04:21 AM

One specific to Thailand and my experiences are...

fok off tannoy on pick up advertising cheap crap furniture at 142dB

common people talking in Isaan language

my gf's voice

dogs seemingly darking for apparent reason

**mrsquirrel** · 13-04-2007, 04:30 AM

Thai women whining "Mai Ow, mai ow, maaaaai oooow"

Fucking hate it.

**friscofrankie** · 13-04-2007, 05:16 AM

Originally Posted by RDN

Street Loose manhole covers

Late-night quiet car, the sound of tires on wet pavement and the light clunk clunk, I had one of those below my apartment in Seattle. I loved that sound, but only between about 2:00 - 5:00 AM when everything was quiet.

**Propagator** · 13-04-2007, 05:35 AM

Originally Posted by danbo

Metal Dustbin Lids Hardly a constant din one would think.

Thats one thing that I dont hear - all plastic round this way

**Bung** · 13-04-2007, 08:46 AM

Re manhole covers I see people putting strips of rubber under them to quieten it.

An old Italian guy lived on a corner where they placed these "cats eyes" relective things on the centre line and if cars ran onto them it would make a fair old racket.

He was having a full on war with the council about it and would chisel them off only to see them replaced the next day.

I used to love to run over the whole lot on my way home from night shift.....

For me here it's dogs barking for sure.

**Boon Mee** · 13-04-2007, 12:39 PM

Damn shopping center PA (Tannoy for you Brits) speakers blasting out at 110db! Man, that's #1 on my list of irratiting noises in Thailand.

**RDN** · 13-04-2007, 01:02 PM

Any party at a Wat where inadequate speakers are blasted with more power than they can handle and MCs shouting into microphones add to the distortion.

Any Thai soap where two women are screaming at each other non-stop, crying, hitting, falling down, shouting some more. Real everyday stories of Thai folk. Not.

**Wallace** · 13-04-2007, 01:10 PM

....and let's not forget that wonderful new idea from the BTS operators to install TVs in all the carriages. Yes, about as loud as people talking on their phones. Just what you DON'T need when you're after a peaceful ride into the centre.

**mrsquirrel** · 13-04-2007, 01:35 PM

I nearly went spare a few months back when i could here coming from across the river that Thai wind instrument that they play at boxing matches and a man shouting over a PA. Went on for two nights. I thought I was going to kill everything in sight.

**obsidian** · 13-04-2007, 01:37 PM

Originally Posted by friscofrankie

Late-night quiet car, the sound of tires on wet pavement and the light clunk clunk, I had one of those below my apartment in Seattle. I loved that sound, but only between about 2:00 - 5:00 AM when everything was quiet.

what street/area of the city was it?

sometimes the way kids bleat "maaaaaaaaaaaaa" is like fingernails on a blackboard to me.

**friscofrankie** · 13-04-2007, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by obsidian

what street/area of the city was it?

Down below this Cajun place called Something Mediterranean; Le Mediterranean? Kinda of a hole in the wall dump good cajun though. across the street from my apartment was a road that ran North/South that was on nearly the same level as my fourth floor apartment.

The manhole cover made this quiet clunk-clunk sound and there was always steam coming out of it in the late, early hours. I'd be walking home with a load of Ballard Bitter, maybe a few ouzos. That steam and sound behind me as I descended the concrete stairs to my building always let me know I made it home without falling in the gutter.

**stroller** · 13-04-2007, 06:33 PM

It's karaoke at full blast late at night when I can't escape which sends me over the edge, got into trouble for voicing my 'opinion' about it more than once.

**mrsquirrel** · 13-04-2007, 07:36 PM

Got some fucking idiot playing a cheap electric piano somewhere on this floor. I can feel the rage building. I don't want to have to move. Not sure if I can control myself or not though.

**Boon Mee** · 13-04-2007, 08:21 PM

^
Well, out in the 'ban nook' it isn't much better.
We have the fruit and breakfast guy peddeling down the road at 0530 shouting his wares. The headman used to have a speaker two doors down until I bribed him to disconnect it.

**LesBonsTemps** · 13-04-2007, 09:00 PM

My irritant noise is 85-year-old Yai playing her flute in the back seat of the van when the entire family has to travel together to another relative's village. Enough, already.

**Lady Hawk** · 14-04-2007, 01:01 AM

Anyone hacking up and spitting no matter what time where or when.
The sound of it is just sickening.

**danbo** · 14-04-2007, 01:04 AM

Originally Posted by Lady Hawk

Anyone hacking up and spitting no matter what time where or when.
The sound of it is just sickening.

The product of it is even worse. People who hawk up on the pavement should be put to death on the spot - Hit them between the eyes with an enormous hammer, and not one of those inflatable joke hammers.

**Propagator** · 14-04-2007, 01:06 AM

Then there is the way that wifey/girlfriend calls out your name or says 'da..arling. You know full well with that tone it is going to cost you money.

Now how many of you after reading the above are nodding at the computer and saying 'I know exactly what he means'. Own up - don't be shy

**Lady Hawk** · 14-04-2007, 01:11 AM

danbo i will carry a big hammer with me always great idea,but my aim is not to good and i may need a good lawyer.

**danbo** · 14-04-2007, 01:24 AM

Originally Posted by Propagator

Then there is the way that wifey/girlfriend calls out your name or says 'da..arling. You know full well with that tone it is going to cost you money.

But what about when you call your wife/grilfriend "da..arling"? You're either going to ask them to perform an act that requires double-jointedness and is quite possibly illegal, or you're going to ask them to shift over in bed because you came home drunk and wet yourself on your side.

nb: When I say 'you', I don't mean you specifically Prop....I mean everyone from Runcorn....

**Propagator** · 14-04-2007, 01:47 AM

Originally Posted by danbo

You're either going to ask them to perform an act that requires double-jointedness and is quite possibly illegal

The images that this provokes in the mind is startling

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