A slightly despairing, less polite email to my next-door neighbour last week. She still hasn’t replied. Coq-au-vin anyone?!
Dear X,
Thanks for your kind reply – and yes I’m afraid it’s having some quite serious knock-on effects with us.
Our 18-month-old spent the whole morning at nursery asleep because she was being awoken by the cockerel through the night. I usually work when she naps in the afternoon, but she’s no longer napping owing to being asleep in the morning.
Without going into all the ins and outs, both our family life and professional lives are being adversely affected by a profound lack of sleep.
From what I’ve read (there are many forums on the internet) the pen needs special sound-proofing done to stop the sound travelling. Or some people have given away the rooster to a neighbouring farm and contented themselves with chickens.
I gather the council can crack down quite hard on cases like this, but obviously we wanted to go to you direct and not involve the council. And in F’s case she was able to keep her roosters – after soundproofing their coop – and no one hears them anymore.
So if you could do something … anything…. to remove the noise we would be so indebted and grateful to you!
Sleep deprivation is a bit of a killer, especially with very young children to look after…
F said she’d tried to call you a few times without success so I’m copying her in so maybe you can arrange a time to speak.
We’re feeling increasingly desperate about the whole situation! My husband thought maybe he could come and talk to you after work tonight, but I figured a chat with F first might help?
Hope you understand and sorry to be so direct…
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Calamitous Mummy 