Why I have a Headache

[lostcarpark]

Came in to work to spend a few hours sorting out some of the problems that cropped up while I wasn't here during the week. The first thing I need to do is check the email my manager sent me to find out what I have to do. Our email system, Lotus Notes, is down. Not a problem, as they're all logged in the bug database. Unfortunately Lotus Notes is also our bug database. So I'm reduced to phoning people to find out what they can remember of the problems. This probably wouldn't annoy me so much if there wasn't a great big noisy machine cleaning the carpark.

Outside a big white machine with flashing orange light on top is washing the tarmac. The building sits the in the middle of the carpark, so every minute or so the noise gets very loud, than fades away. What's worse is that every so often, the blasted thing needs to reverse, which results in a very loud beeping noise. This probably wouldn't irritate me so much if it wasn't for that damn alarm.

Sometime yesterday evening an alarm in an apartment two floors below started ringing. I've very glad it't two floors away, but it's still far too close. The particular frequency seems to carry a very long way, and it's quite loud in my bedroom. I really pity the people in the apartment below us. I'm sure there must be a law about alarms ringing continuously without a break. Something similar happened about a year ago in another apartment on my floor, and it took four days to get anything done about it. Hopefully that won't happen this time. We're petter armed with emergency phone numbers for the management company, so hopefully we can get it dealt with quickly.

So between all of these I have a pounding headache. Which makes it difficult to get any real work done (especially since I only have a vague idea of what work I should be doing).

On the plus side, planning to go out with Angie later. We might go to an outdoor concert, if we can be nothered...

Comments

[crazysoph.livejournal.com]

There is a law. I don't know chapter and verse, but nuisance alarms fall into the perview of the Department of the Environment.

The police have been helpful in the past (and yes, I do mean the Dublin Gardai), or at least sympathetic - and they log the calls regarding nuisance alarms, which is good for you if this turns out to be a structural problem: Records Trail is All. (That said, keep a separate diary for these incidents, too.)

I do seem to remember that, for starters, the owners of the alarm are liable to some sort of fine if there is no automatic shut-off after 30 minutes.

But, more research is required. Alas.

Crazy(just what you need to do with your "copious" amounts of spare time!)Soph

[lostcarpark.livejournal.com]

There may be a law, but I can't seem to find anyone who's willing to enforce it. I spoke to several members of my local station who said there was nothing they could do. The management company were as helpful as they could be, but the person who was "on call" (i.e. carrying a pager) apparently got sick and didn't show up on Monday, so when I called their office in the afternoon they'd only heard about the problem an hour before. They called me back to say the owner was on his way to turn it off, but it didn't actually happen until a day later.

It's one of the big drawbacks of apartment living, and something I'll be very releived to get away from when we move. The management company don't have very much power to help - all they can do is call the owner. I don't usually mind noise, sharing my bedroom with several computers which are always on, and with the building site next door, but whatever frequency the alarm emitted just went straight through my brain. It wasn't even particularly loud, being two floors below my apartment. I got very little sleep the first two nights, so I stayed with Angie the next two.

Just glad it's over!