Rosemary

I am a quiet person and must admit do like my peace and quiet but absolutely love to hear people enjoying themselves. Our town band has just done an impromptu procession through the streets and I expect they will do this again quite a few times over the next week. Last night the band escorted the football players from the pitch down to the main street and should then have disbanded but casually played a few jolly tunes, they just love playing and it is very obvious.

Although our town is quite sleepy and quiet most of the time everyone enjoys the fiesta's and the band is really valued. My grandson is in a town band in the UK and is viewed as a bit of a dork but here if you are in a band you are revered, strange world.

Rosemary

Mercedes

My Neighbours have a house in Marbella and one next door to me, when the fiestas are on they tend to spend it at the house next to me, which is only about 6kms from their main house anyway. Mine are pretty good though, and thankfully I live in a detached house so my neighbours aren't on top of me. Funny thing was I decided to be noisy one night and had a bottle of wine and some CD's playing and when I went to my car to fetch something, the neighbour' who lives on a slight hill behind me with a wall, his teenage visitors had a couple of chairs as close as they could to my house on top of the wall, so they could listen to the music. Made me smile. Must admit I couldn't live in an apartment after living in one. Too noisy.

Lionda

We are also detached, couldn't live in an apartment. My husband is a musician and besides playing guitar and banjo he is also practising saxophone. Can you imagine what it would be like if we lived in an apartment!!!

Today it has rained, we had visitors, played music had a few drinks, they left and hubby has now plugged in his bass guitar and is playing along, we just couldn't do this in a duplex or an apartment.

vox populia

Just move to a country village like us, San Cayetano Murcia 10 minutes away from the noise but close enough if you want the bars etc! VOX

Fuzzlepop

I like how some spanish don't mind noise and kids having fun, last urbanisation had some annoying germans telling kids of for being to loud or playing near their house

Mercedes

Aah you got the rain we were meant to have then.....I thought I was going to get out watering the garden. It tried, but only a few squirts. We have a venta up the road when they have live music I can sit and listen to it on my terrace. When I live/work in UK I get the bands, as some of the lads who come and stay in the house play the guitar, or the bagpipes or sing....my landlord who also lives behind us quite likes it as it is his entertainment for the evening, especially when we have Irish or Scots staying and are in party mode which is most nights, So we keep the neighbours entertained also in UK, even though they are quite a distance away. One of the scottish lads played his bagpipes half seven one morning to get everyone up. The landlord heard it from his house and thought he was hearing things...

brisca

Last night I went for a walk which finished just after 1 am.
Came home, did a few bits and went to bed at 2 am.

As I've said previously, we live right on the village Plaza, and we have a sheltered area (portales) right outside our front door.
Just as we were going to bed, a large group of Spanish people (visitors to the village) were setting up a load of chairs under the portales; and continued to chat loudly, laugh and joke, yell to their kids etc until goodness knows what time!

At 7.15, we were woken by a group of youngsters returning from a local fiesta - beeping their car horns, yelling their heads off and screaming. In fact the girls' screaming was so awful, that I got up to make sure no-one was being hurt!
We could hear all this, despite the fact that we'd had to shut the majority of our windows, just to have a chance of getting to sleep in the first place!

At 9 am, we were woken yet again by the same group of young party revellers, who'd congregated outside the Churreria and were yet again yelling their heads off

Thank goodness it's nearly the end of August, and soon all these "out of towners!" will be heading home, and our village will return to its generally quiet way of life.
Hopefully our house will be built by this time next year, and we won't have to endure life in the Plaza for another summer.

It seems that everyone has the attitude that "we're all on holiday", so no-one says anything about the amount of noise.
I'm all for people having fun, but it does seem to be a lot of unecessary and thoughtless noise going on.
I guess I'll just have to become more Spanish in my attitude to life................................but sometimes it's hard!!

Rosemary

Hi Sam

My biggest concern when children and young girls do all of this screaming is that people will get so used to it and that when someone screams because they have a problem they get ignored. I really wish that they would wake up to this and stop the idiotic screaming. Having fun, shouting to each other and playing music etc we can learn to live with and accept in the long run but the senseless screaming is awful and in the long run may put others in danger of not gaining help when it is needed.

Rosemary

lostinspain

Rosemary, I totally agree with you and I will talk to my local police about that. But the problem is that even parents seem to think that unnecessary shouting is great fun and it seems to be a cultural or socio/economic or area behaviour, I don't know, but I just don't understand how possibly this people can go to work and the kids go to school in the morning afer those late nighs out or i the house.

I think they truly believe its fun to do this.

brisca

I quite agree with you Rosemary.
The screaming was really intense, and I was quite concerned,

You're so right about people becoming desensitized to this behaviour; it is a worry

Something I've noticed since we've been here, is that hardly any Spanish children seem to have "temper tantrums??"
Maybe they're all indulged completely, or maybe they don't have all the same expectations that UK children seem to have become accustomed to?? I don't know.
I'm thinking here, about UK children who seem to have every gadget under the sun, own TVs in their rooms etc - and yet the children in our village are thrilled and excited to be having sack races in the Plaza (using animal feed sacks!) during fiesta time.

Perhaps the screaming is the Spanish way to let off steam??

brisca

I've thought several times about talking to our local Guardia - just to try and understand whether I'm being unreasonable, or just not understanding the local culture?
When I mention the amount of noise to friends in the village, they all say "yes, it's terrible" but just seem to accept it as a way of life!
I certainly don't want to seem like a moaning old misery, but I'd love to know what really is thought to be acceptable behaviour, and what's not.

I must say that we don't experience this level of noise and activity during the normal course of the year; it's just horrendous in August.
Of course, the vast majority of people are on holiday, so they don't have to worry about going to work or school.
Certainly, local parents are quite strict with their children here in the autumn and winter; I hear the children being called in at about 7pm..............................whereas at the moment they're happily roaming around until 2 or 3 in the morning!

Rosemary

I thought of you this morning when I was at a young girl's house. Her mother went into the kitchen with three of her neighbours to show them the work that had been done. As usual they were all talking at once and it was bedlam. The young lady said to me that they all talk loud in this town so I immediately corrected her and said that they all talk loud in the whole of Spain but she insisted that they are loudest in this town. We had a good laugh at them too because I explained to her that it is normal to take it in turns to talk and not all talk at once because if everyone is talking no-one is listening. She informed me that she often tells her closest friends and her cousin to 'shut up' if she is trying to say something - bet she would not dare to do that to her mother or father though.

When I see her tomorrow I will talk to her about the screaming that you are experiencing and see what she says about it.


Rosemary

brisca

It'll be interesting to hear what she thinks Rosemary

So many of my Spanish friends comment (almost proudly??) that they are a nation of noisy people!
I was talking to our friend who runs the bar and lives in the Plaza, about the recent disturbances.
She said that it's youngters who have spent the evening in the next village at their fiesta, and then come here for breakfast (churros!)
I think I've heard before that there's no Churreria there...................oh, how I wish there was!
She seemed completely accepting of their behaviour; but added that she'd not heard anything because she had all her windows closed and the air con on. Lucky her!

When my English student comes back from holiday, I'll have a discussion with him and see what his take is on the subject.

I know what you mean about everyone talking at once!!
Keith was helping some friends install some bedroom and bathroom furniture. He had to contend with one friend speaking Spanglish to him, while the wife and mother in law were debating where things should go, via phone from Madrid!!
Keith said it was an absolute nightmare - not only were they all talking loudly and at once, but they all had differnet ideas about where the items should be fitted. (I think MIL won!! )

It all makes for an interesting way of life, that's for sure!

Rosemary

I talked to the young lady about the screaming and she could not tell me anything in fact she was surprised. Her version was to tell me that everyone is very loud in Spain and asked where the girls live so I told her Extramadura and she said she does not know what the girls of that place are like. So no help there then.

Rosemary

lostinspain

Actually, I spoke to my municipal office and was told that there should be any noise after 12 as there are laws, and also flowers should be watered at night and not in the morning, re: aptments.

Hmmm...Will try to talk to my neighbours.