Face to face with neighbours is the only way!

The debate has recently been raging over what to do about noisy and disruptive neighbours.

There is little doubt that living next to neighbours who are continuously loud and insensitive to those around them must be a living hell.

So what to do about it? This is the question. Do you confront these neighbours and try and reason with them to find a compromise or do you as seems to be the case today, go to another authority, like environmental pollution , the police, the council or the courts.

Our camp is firmly on the side of face to face meeting. It must be right to get in front of your neighbour and talk through the issue which is upsetting you. After all the vast majority of people do want to live in harmony and peace with those around them. By giving them a chance to explain their actions and to tell you about the incidents there is a better chance that a mutually acceptable arrangement can be established instead of an entrenched division.

The key to living peaceably with your neighbours is relationship. You have to nurture and develop a relationship over a period of time and this is made up of a number of small incidences, maybe of small kindnesses done , of small considerations made...over time.

Why is this important? Well it is the paying bank of good deeds credit. We should all pay into this kind of account each and every day.

The reason is that when it comes, at some future stage, to making a withdrawal, in other words when there is going to be some incidence of potential disagreement like a fence, a tree, a noisy party etc, then the relationship will be able to withstand that withdrawal and there will still be credit in the account!

Once something has been escalated and in the hands of some kind of authority, then it is very difficult to get face to face and sort things out in a civilised way.