Shout, Shout, Let It All Out

More noise. It's not often that Leapy Lee in "Euro Weekly" pens something that is hard for anyone to disagree with, but in the current issue he has. It's about noise and the at-times absurd application of the "denuncia" (complaint) which the police are forced to act on. He cites the case of an 80 year old lady who was throwing a party and got a couple of visits from the local plod, acting on a complaint. There is a huge difference between a one-off event that finishes before midnight and persistent noise, but the ease with which people opt for a complaint should, I believe, be subject to whether they are using police time wisely. If it proves not, then the complainant should be brought to task.

But there are so many apparent inconsistencies and also unfairnesses when it comes to noise. Bars that get hammered by having to play music so low that it means a loss of business is just one example of what can be unfair. The other side of this coin is all the noise from various things on the road that are in blatant violation. The other day, there was a guy revving up and then riding a quad bike near me. It was as though Lewis Hamilton had dropped by to practise his starting-grid revving up and take-off. Then there are the motos and the din they make. Get a convoy of those, and ... I once went to the lawnmower 24-hour race at what was Oliver Reed's place. The moto is the souped-up lawnmower of the road here.

When I last spoke about noise, I got an email from John who pointed to the music events that take place in the centre of Alcúdia. This is not the only place. By coincidence, on the noise theme, someone has been writing to "The Bulletin" to complain about a similar problem in Andratx. A rock-music gig going on at two or three in the morning in a town square is a million miles away from an 80 year-old with a band in her back garden. So where is the consistency? The answer is that there isn't any.

I have noted before that noise and holidays are almost inseparable. The holidaymaker often likes his music al fresco and into the wee smalls, and the romanticism of this has been curbed by things such as the midnight curfews. In one sense, it's a shame, but in another it's a perfectly acceptable compromise. The noise of the entertainment from a hotel, assuming it is within the noise limiters, is of course obtrusive, but one cannot live in a holiday environment and expect silence. The fact that a hotel may make this same noise night after night does not get it closed down, yet a one-off party can get a denuncia. Again, where is the consistency? The system of complaint should be subject to a more rigorous test, I feel.

Anyway, finally on this, I had another noise to deal with. Most of it can be handled. But voices, voices can be a real intrusion. Periodically, for reasons that defy me, a couple of what I assume to be lucky-lucky men have used the street outside my house for a late-night rendezvous. In the street, talking, talking loudly. The other night, at close on 1am, I had had enough, went onto the upper terrace and gave a loud "oi" shout. It worked. A "sorry, sorry" and they dispersed. Maybe they were concerned that I would phone the plod and make a denuncia. Now, I would never do something like that.


And Dimple Diamond update. Man alive, is this working well. That counter is now climbing ever more. It's like the Blue Peter Christmas Appeal, edging ever upwards. Let us not let him down, everyone. Here it comes again - the runaway train in that Derby-stylie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84DmeutIAr4


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Faith No More. Today's title - easy, easy, peasy.

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