Quiet residential streets are often insufferable. When there is no traffic, there are screaming children. I prefer the white noise of car traffic to children, drilling, and Rihanna's "Umbrella" on repeat for weeks (true story).

I had lived in a "quiet residential street", a cul de sac, for 15 years. The downstairs neighbours were repairing cars (not only their own) in the yard, often idling them. They were doing noisy carpentry and construction work. Children were gathering in the yard across the street and screaming whole day long.

One house away the parents were abusing their children. I only ever heard verbal abuse and the son begging to be let into the house after 10PM, for at least 10 minutes. I reported it to the police. The kids were taken away for 6 months, and the mother, who was a verbal abuser, moved away with them afterwards. I was told by a neighbour that the father had broken the mother's arm. I was also told that the father had been fired from Hervis for stealing sneakers, and that the father's father (now deceased) would sometimes fire his gun in the street.

Some years later now tween son returned to live with his father. Aged 12 children can decide which parent they want to live with (and they can stop seeing the other one).

#noise