Noisy Neighbours

#####Noisy Neighbours

In a terraced house between the gasworks and the railway station, lived a very miserable man. He was miserable because he lived between a motor-bike mechanic and a music teacher.

Every morning, the man was woken by the mechanic hammering and banging and clanging and revving away on motor-bikes in the yard.

It seemed as if the noise would shake the house down.

Then the first pupil would arrive at the music teacher’s house, and there would be a screeching of violins, or a thundering of pianos, or a caterwauling of trumpets, or the ear-splitting whine of a flute played flat.

It seemed as if the music would break every window in the middle house.

The man living between these noisy neighbours tried everything - ear-plugs, ear-muffs, putting his head under the pillow, even locking himself in the cupboard.

But the engines revved and the music jangled, until he thought his head would burst.

“This just can’t go on,” he thought to himself one moming. But he could not hear himself think, so he had to shout it aloud instead. “This can’t go on!”

So he went next door to the mechanic’s house and offered him a fistful of money if he would sell his house and move.

“Anything you say, chief!” said the mechanic, who had never held so much money in his oily hands. “I’ll move out tomorrow!”

Then the man went to his other neighbour, the music teacher, and offered her all the money he had left if she would sell her house and move.

“Oh, of course, absolutely my dear!” said the teacher, who had never seen so much money in her life. “I’ll move tomorrow!”

So the man from the middle house went home happy and locked himself in the cupboard with his car-plugs and a pillow over his head for the last time.

And he wondered why he had never thought of the remedy before.

Next morning, he even went round to help the music teacher pack.

“I hope you’ve found somewhere nice to live,” he said as he helped her carry the piano downstairs.

“Oh, yes, thank you. I was really very lucky. I found out that the motor-bike mechanic who lives two doors away was also looking for somewhere else to live. So I’m moving into his house … and he’s moving into mine!”