Dances with Yoof
d_h and I went to bed last night at about eleven.
I was all wide awake and having trouble going to sleep because I'd finally got to see Iron Man (which I loved) and it often takes some time to settle after something like that.
Now, we live across the road from a school, which has a paved, gently sloping front play area which is very popular with skateboarders.
Not long after I'd finally started to fall asleep (and d_h had long since dropped off), we heard the sounds of someone loudly falling off their skateboard at irregular intervals. CRASH. RooollllllllCRASH. CRASH. Etc. Bang went any chance I had of actually getting to sleep. After a while I realised that d_h was awake (he's a light sleeper and the noise had woken him up).
So I got up, put trousers and shoes and a jacket on, and went out to have a chat with them. It was just before midnight. I was unfailingly polite the whole time, and the discussion with the skateboarder and his two mates, which went something like this:
Me: Hey, are you aware of how loud your board is in the middle of the night, when it's quiet?
Yoof: So?
Me: It's keeping us awake.
Yoof: So what?
Me: We have to go to work in the morning.
Yoof: Not my problem.
[a couple of other exchanges I don't remember] (All this time he's refusing to look at me, and his mates are keeping quiet.)
Yoof: What do you want?
Me: I want you to stop. It's keeping us awake.
Yoof: I'm just standin'. Bugger off.
Me: Are you going to start up again as soon as I go?
Yoof: Just bugger off.
Me: Okay. I thought it was worth asking nicely.
Then I went back indoors and turned the light off. I said to d_h that I was going to give him ten minutes, and if he started up again I'd call the cops.
I looked out the window five minutes later and they'd gone. I'm pretty sure his refusal to look at me while we were talking was from shame. All I can do is hope that they're a bit more considerate next time.
I was all wide awake and having trouble going to sleep because I'd finally got to see Iron Man (which I loved) and it often takes some time to settle after something like that.
Now, we live across the road from a school, which has a paved, gently sloping front play area which is very popular with skateboarders.
Not long after I'd finally started to fall asleep (and d_h had long since dropped off), we heard the sounds of someone loudly falling off their skateboard at irregular intervals. CRASH. RooollllllllCRASH. CRASH. Etc. Bang went any chance I had of actually getting to sleep. After a while I realised that d_h was awake (he's a light sleeper and the noise had woken him up).
So I got up, put trousers and shoes and a jacket on, and went out to have a chat with them. It was just before midnight. I was unfailingly polite the whole time, and the discussion with the skateboarder and his two mates, which went something like this:
Me: Hey, are you aware of how loud your board is in the middle of the night, when it's quiet?
Yoof: So?
Me: It's keeping us awake.
Yoof: So what?
Me: We have to go to work in the morning.
Yoof: Not my problem.
[a couple of other exchanges I don't remember] (All this time he's refusing to look at me, and his mates are keeping quiet.)
Yoof: What do you want?
Me: I want you to stop. It's keeping us awake.
Yoof: I'm just standin'. Bugger off.
Me: Are you going to start up again as soon as I go?
Yoof: Just bugger off.
Me: Okay. I thought it was worth asking nicely.
Then I went back indoors and turned the light off. I said to d_h that I was going to give him ten minutes, and if he started up again I'd call the cops.
I looked out the window five minutes later and they'd gone. I'm pretty sure his refusal to look at me while we were talking was from shame. All I can do is hope that they're a bit more considerate next time.