Exhaustive European Union legislation demonstrates how seriously Europeans view noise pollution. Germany also has an extensive set of statutes covering sources of noise pollution including that emitted by air, rail and road traffic. They also outline possible actions against perpetrators as well as damages for victims.

Noise pollution in German neighbourhoods, however, is often regulated by entrenched social mores. Lease agreements often stipulate that excessive noise is prohibited from 10pm to 7am, and 1pm to 3pm respectively. (The latter time period is called Mittagsruhe or “afternoon peace”). Failure to read the fine print might have you branded as a noisy nuisance.

For the clueless expatriate (like yours truly), Mittagsruhe is an alien concept. How often have I been rudely awakened from a siesta by the “inimitable” hollering of the suratkhabar lama collector?

Ditto the cries of the tilam lama lorry or the putu mayam uncle. Or the neighbour testing his surround sound karaoke system by singing the Bee Gees’ Staying Alive. And having lived right smack in the traffic nightmare that is Old Klang Road, even a moment’s peace would truly have been heaven-sent.

The so-called “no noise” hours here are meant for those who wish to sleep or rest. Sometimes it can even go to the extent of having excitable dogs (read: constantly barking) kept firmly indoors. This prompted one of our Ecuadorian friends to comment that dogs in Germany hardly ever bark.

Loud household activities like vacuuming and scrubbing should be avoided. D.I.Y enthusiasts could incur the wrath of their neighbours for hammering and drilling during the Mittagsruhe.

This need for silence is even more pronounced during weekends when everyone is presumably sleeping after a hard week at work. Therefore, no testing the new moped or having a rousing game of touch handball, unless you want the police knocking at your door. Apparently, low noise emissions earns you brownie points in suburbia.

Naturally, if you have cool neighbours, you can bend the rules occasionally. In fact, within city centres, neighbours tend to be a bit more forgiving about noise. After all, there’s the heavy traffic to contend with already.

But as luck would have it, the no-noise rule is sacrosanct for our immediate neighbours. This shocked us though, as all of them are within the late 20s to early 30s age range. Therefore one would expect them to occasionally play a loud rock song or throw a party – both of which have never happened.

When we first moved in, we wrote individual letters to all the parties within our building apologising for all the noise associated with our move. Two weeks later, we received our first noise-related complaint.

The neighbour below came to tell us that we laugh too much and too loudly. And that we should keep it down from 8pm onwards. My husband coolly referred to the rules, stressing that the no-noise time period begins at 10pm and therefore we were certainly within legal laughing limits.

A month later, we had a couple of friends over to watch a comedy. Naturally, this meant occasional laughter. This time, the neighbour started banging on her ceiling (i.e. our floor). We immediately asked our landlord to have a word with her. His only reply was that she is komisch (strange) and that we should ignore her. Apparently, she complains about the slightest sound. Meanwhile, we’ve shelved the idea of a housewarming party although most of our friends are itching to just come and have a (pardon the pun) good laugh.

Yet, this hoo-ha has somewhat affected me. I have just begun vocal lessons and now go to my mother-in-law’s house to practise occasionally. Her neighbours don’t raise a ruckus about my constant rendition of Greensleeves. In fact, they have suggested that I also add some schlagers (folk songs) to my repertoire. After all, they reasoned, this doesn’t happen often and it’s not like I am waking the whole neighbourhood.

By Brenda Benedict
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2006/3/18/lifefocus/13656212