Noise rule in Switzerland

Complaints Corner
21
Try not to overcook them.

22
Move to the city.

dave

23
Very funny .

I assume with sheep, the farmer might take them in soon because the Winter will be here soon then you won't have to worry about them again until the Spring.

24
Heartfelt sympathies to all you poor sufferers. In my first flat in Switzerland, a neighbour 3 floors further up had a habit of playing the same Nana Mouskouri record over and over again, at about a mllion decibels - from about 7am on a Sunday morning onwards. When I went uo and politely asked her to turn the volume down so that i could get some sleep, she rudely replied, "What are you up to all night, that you need to sleep in the morning?" In the same place, my neighbour across the hall used to give trombone lessons - so loudly that i couldn't even hear my own radio.

I moved to Sion - screaming kids (one of whom used to amuse himself by removing the fuses from a box in the stairwell), and constant traffic noises.

After a few years of this, I went back up the mountain a bit, to a pleasant village. My flat was opposite the village church, which turned out to have the most hysterically rapid and out-of-tune set of chimes I have ever heard!

Now, at last, I am in Savièse, in a secluded corner with a small enclosed garden, that yet has a view of the mountains; and the loudest sounds I hear from outside are birds twittering and leaves falling.

BLISS!

25
Just don't go all "silence of the lambs" because of them

Hannibal Lecter : Well, Clarice - have the lambs stopped screaming?

26
I'd happily trade you!

The drills started at 7:15 today...

27
During my short stay in Switzerland of two months, my next door neighbour played the piano and practiced singing every single day. I wasn't a prick so I didn't complain, even though these lessons occured late in the evening. However, I received a complaint from the manager that I was showering and flushing the toilet after coming home from partying. What's a guy to do if he had a late night and needs to shower and use the washroom before going to bed?

I guess it's just the Swiss being Swiss?

28
We have teenage twin boys across the hall who are 'learning' to play the electric guitar. They drive me crazy! They are sooooo bad. And practice for hours on end. Ugh! Aren't they a bit young to be "playing" The Doors & Jimmy Hendrix?????

29
Hey, they must be getting good if you can recognise the pieces!

Perhaps you could show them how to complete the Jimmy Hendrix act and smash the guitar as part of the whole act. After the initial crashing and bashing of guitar-on-floor, it should go quiet...

30
Yes, that thought has crossed my mind!!!!

It's only vaguely recognizable because they play the same bits over & over again.... I have to admit the WORST part is when they sing!

Shouldn't they really be learning Nirvana or something else? I mean the Door were already old when I was their age!

31
Well, the drilling hasn't yet stopped here, but I got another nice surprise when I got home 10 minutes ago.

From Monday to Wednesday there will be a mobile crane completely blocking one end of your street, so you've got to go the other way round.

Implied bonus: we're renovating yet another building close to you.

Suddenly, that idea of a caravan looks cool.

32
Roast potatoes and mint sauce !!!

33
Yes ironic isnt it.

Here's another exception to the noise rule. Saturday am is a "working day" and building sites are allowed to operate.

I discovered this from a reliable source at the kantonspolizei, at 7.10am on Saturday morning after a 20tonne jackhammer started hacking away at a granite hillside about 30 yards from my pillow.

I wasnt too happy having been awake for 44 of the 48 previous hours on a project. At least I got my revenge by calling the owner at 7.12am. When he said "Can we talk later?" in a daze... at least I had the presence of mind to say "I'd rather do it now, Im wide awake, let me tell you why..."

Daniel

34
After a trip to the Seattle area, I'm amazed on how incredibly noisy it is here. People tolerate a noise level here that would bring repeated citations and/or arrests by the police back in Seattle. I often see complaints about air traffic, but these jets are much quieter than the church bells. Additionally, the planes don't really fly between midnight and 7AM. Can't the church bells be turned off for the same period of time?

35
[rant]

No they can't. Remember, if it comes to traditions, rules don't have to be obeyed.

I've lived in a small village in Schwyz, which had this huge double tower cloister on its main square. Those bastards would start the bells at 5:30 and ring them at full power until 6. Then the restaurant in the opposite building got stocked up, which meant throwing around barrels of beer and shouting. Then the garbage men came. Then the metzger got stocked. Then the bells started ringing at 7 again. They decided to erect a full blown theater in the middle of the village and proceed to play the same lousy thing every day from 20 to like 23something.

Protesting against the noise was useless. There was even a petition to restrict the bells, but it was denied because apparently "The church comes before the people". I thought the church was there for the people and not the opposite. Some people are just wacko...

[/rant]

36
They do like the shouting bit. I first noticed this in the ambient noise level in bars, the canteen at work, and worst of all, the group of half a dozen or so who would congregate around the coffee machine (close to my desk) first thing in the morning, and after lunch.

Until recently, a neighbour was taking a taxi to work every day at about 3:30 am. She and the taxi driver would regularly have a full volume chat on the street before they set off.

I sometimes wonder if Douglas Adams based his idea of the shouting Vogon guard on the Swiss.

Please don't get me started about Badenfahrt or Fasnacht.

37
I'm moving to Lausanne soon, so have been reading David Hampshire's 'Living and Working in Switzerland' - it's made me want to read one on 'Living and Working in the UK" to see what people think of us!

David says that Sundays are a complete no-work day - and this includes car washing, gardening, and even laundry (including hanging clothes out to dry).

Anyone recognise this, or is it another of his slight exaggerations?

Rob

38
Depends on the other people in your block of flats. We use the washing machine on Sundays and if we have to do something like drilling we normally notify the people upstairs whatever day it is just out of courtesy but no-one gets annoyed (well, they would if you were doing it really early on a Sunday morning).

Our block consists mainly of young-ish (30-something) people who work Monday to Friday (mix of Swiss and international) and we agreed years ago that we would just use the washer and dryer whenever it was free and ignore the beautifully drawn up "Waschplan-thingy" hung up in the laundry room by our landlord.

It's not like that everywhere, though, so beware! A Swiss friend of mine is fed up to the back teeth with the self-appointed wash-police who patrol the laundry in case you are still washing at one minute past 9pm. And woe betide anyone who so much as farts on a Sunday disturbing the old biddy in the apartment nextdoor.

39
It depends a bit on where you are IMO. For example, we have put laundry out on a Sunday when our dryer was broken and no one complained (and if they did we would explain the situation to the management and consider the matter closed). It's the only time we've ever put laundry out. Technically putting laundry out to dry on your balcony or patio is a violation of the lease terms in our complex, but there are some people who put laundry out all the time and no one seems to complain. We all have private waschkuchen so are allowed to wash/dry any time we like (except the penthouse which has a washer/dryer in their apartment and they have limits).

We occasionally fill the bath after 10 PM. We've also mowed our little patch of grass on a Sunday before - albeit with a push (non-motorized) mower, and for only about 20 minutes. That said, yesterday I contemplated mowing the grass and did decide to wait a day because it was Sunday.

So my long-winded point is that to some extent it depends on your neighbours, the rules of your living place etc. We are in a very tolerant place - I only know of one set of neighbours that has complained to the management about another set, and the objects of the complaint did modify their behaviour in response to the letter. But I always view neighbours like the lottery - when you move to a new place, you never know if you are going to win or lose.

40
I am fairly new to Switzerland but have to laugh at the "noise rule", ie, no noise after 10 pm? Who does one go to with a complant - the "noise police?" And I guess the Swiss feel that any noise before that time is ok? I am close to a school, a firehouse, and the space in back of our bedroom is used as a playground and as a thruway for motorized bikes! There is one that rides by around 2 am each night at full throttle! I also took a train last Saturday and there was a bunch of school age kids that were totally out of control, seems like there was no adult supervision, and I was surprised that adults around them did not tell them to shut up! I have never experienced anything like that and almost got off the train before my stop

BTW, I am looking for another place to live but have run into discrimination since I am not Swiss. Oh well...