What would you do

[Poppy]

The school bus has just started stopping outside our house at 07.45 every school day just to pick our neighbours 4 children up. I have a feeling it is not a proper designated pickup point. The whole family (4 kids, baby , mum, and dog with nice loud bell) arrive at about 07.30  and it sounds like the school playground/nursery until the bus arrives full breaks on doors banging and everything revving for take off. We are retired and normally get up at 08.30 ish [:D] but this is shattering our lives, we have started waking at 07.15 waiting for the onslaught. Due to the age of the children plus baby this could go on for the next ten years. [:'(]

[woolybananasbrother]

Harmony with the neighbours suggests you might change bedrooms and use one facing the other way.

[Georgina]

School holidays in a couple of weeks.....

[:)]

[dr orloff]

Earplugs?  I don't see how anyone can reasonably object to children going to school.

[Russethouse]

Why is it your house that they stop at ?

[nectarine]

perhaps leaving your car(s) outside where the bus currently stops might mean that the vehicle moves on .. perhaps to outside your neighbour's house.  Or perhaps a quiet word with the driver, plead some obscure medical condition on your or your husband's part which requires plenty of uninterrupted sleep and ask him to move further down the road.  Good luck. 

[Kingdingaling]

Well, if I could get up at 8.30 everyday, to stop it ruining my life i'd get up at 7.30, happy days

[Tony F Dordogne]

Go to the Mairie and ask if it is a designated pick up point?  If it isn't, ask the driver to stop outside the neighbour's house - or is there a good safety reason for not doing so?

Speak to your neighbour about it?

I'm retired also but I'm up earlier than 7.30, so why not get up earlier if things can't be changed?

 

[zeb]

 

I do sympathise a bit. The farmer next door starts feeding and milking his cows quite early, and the folks across the road get their cars out to go to work at 8.

Can't you suggest very nicely that they all walk to school - you know, like we used to do in the old days, before such luxuries as school buses. I know there is more traffic now and cars racing along small roads in France could be a bit dangerous, but if they walked on the verge they'd be alright..........wouldn't they? Then you could sleep in and not worry about what's going on in the real world.

 

 

[AnOther]

I too sympathise a bit and although it has obviously disturbed your routine I do feel the phrase "this is shattering our lives" may be a tad OTT [Www]

Why has this only just started, are the neighbours new. Does the bus actually have designated pickup points. If these are the only kids being picked up for a km or two either way where else would the bus logically stop, lots of unknowns and variables here.

What would I do ?

I think if an approach to the family, the driver, or the Marie didn't produce a solution then as Tony F suggests I would get up earlier.

Personally I've always maintained that every hour spent asleep is an hour wasted and as as you get older, inexorably, day by day, that hour becomes a larger proportion of your time left on this planet.

Habitually I sleep from midnight to 5:30, or maybe 6 ish if I am having a decadent lie in, although I do usually try and snatch a 20 minute power nap around lunchtime [:D]

Bon chance

 

 

[Poppy]

Many thanks for the replies, it is good to have others thoughts.

We would change bedrooms but unfortunately nothing to change to and we have been trying to get up earlier. We are positioned where a disused chemin crosses a one track road, the children live about a kl up the chemin, the school bus pulls into the chemin presumably for security. Previously they were taken by car to the nearest village as are all the children in area to pick the bus up.One evening a friends car was parked on the land at other side of chemin and neighbour banged on door demanding he move it as bus wouldn't stop if it couldn't pull off the road. I have a feeling that if we take any action mairie etc slashed tyres or broken windows come to mind.

It is a situation we never thought about and while most of me thinks live with it and get up earlier another little part thinks 'this is my life'. We do feel it is an intrusion into our privacy. Perhaps we are just grumpy old people [:D]

[Russethouse]

Could you have the window double glazed ? Or add secondary double glazing, to help cut down  the noise ?

What wakes you ? The school bus or the children chattering as they wait for it to arrive ?

[mint]

[quote user="ErnieY"]

Personally I've always maintained that every hour spent asleep is an hour wasted and as as you get older, inexorably, day by day, that hour becomes a larger proportion of your time left on this planet.

 

 

[/quote]

Erns, I've never thought about it like that! Yikes, I don't like the sound of this at all.  I love to "faire la grasse matinee", so I shall have to rethink that part of life completely now.

Oh, drat you, Erns

[Dick Smith]

It's the deal with the devil.

[mint]

And Faust is one of those operas I have yet to see live!

How will I manage to get up now there isn't the imperative to get to work?

[AnOther]

[quote user="Poppy"]I have a feeling that if we take any action mairie etc slashed tyres or broken windows come to mind.[/quote]Good god, it that's how it is maybe you need a change of house [:-))]

Other than earplugs then I don't see what you can do. You need the squidgy ones like THIS which you roll up and put well into the ear. Properly fitted they are not at all uncomfortable and are remarkably effective. I wear the very same ones when I fly on helicopters and you probably know how noisy they can be !

Sweets: drat me ? - is that what I deserve for showing you how to extend your life at absolutely zero cost and without any magic potions or elixirs [:D]

Dick: You've sussed me, my alter persona is Dorian Gray [6]

 

[Tony F Dordogne]

[quote user="Poppy"]

. I have a feeling that if we take any action mairie etc slashed tyres or broken windows come to mind.

[/quote]

Poppy, why on earth do you think that something like that would happen?  Come on now, have you any evidence of this being a likely outcome?

Speak to people locally, discuss and negotiate, that will get you a much better result than asking for advice here, all we can do is tut tut and sympathise but can do nothing pratical, it's a local issue and needs to be dealt with locally, this should be a place of very last resort.

[Russethouse]

Our neighbough starts his lorry at 6am every morning - it has never occurred to me to complain, why would I? He has four children to support, he has to work.

The children in this case have to go to school, I think to some extent there has to be some give and take here, enjoy an extra hour or so in bed at the weekends, in school holidays etc........in term time  turn over and go back to sleep, read, whatever [;-)]

[Poppy]

Good to hear other people's reactions to the situation, just wondered what others would do. Will have to have a good think. [blink]

I know the children have to go to school but their house is a kilometre away from us. We have no immediate neighbours and bought the house for that reason.

[Tancrède]

Most people find that meeting new people in a foreign country is quite difficult to achieve.  Like catching flies with the hoover they do not stay still long enough for you to catch them.  Your circumstances present you with an ideal opportunity.

What would I do?  I would put on my hat and go for a walk precisely timed so that I would be obliged to pass, meet and greet the family who wait outside the house.  And the next day I would do the same, and perhaps even have some desultory conversation.  Et voilà, a week later and you have six new acquaintances.

It will not instantly solve the noise problem, but it cannot make it worse  -  and it might even provide an opening for future improvement.

And if these people are confirmed and inveterate tyre-slashers, such a friendly overture may encourage them to turn their attentions elsewhere.

And, who knows, they might even be pleasant, amusing, interesting or useful people.

I myself suffered a momentary fit of exasperation when two crusty market ladies set up their veg stall right across my front door. Thoughts of going to the mairie, or having a petulant fit, briefly flickered though my mind, but I rejected both as being too energetic. 

As the espresso pot had just bubbled through I took them each a cup of thick dark coffee instead, stepping ostentatiously over their heaps of produce.  (It was 6.45 on a particularly cheerless morning.)  Their stall was never so inconveniently sited again, and eight years later they - having moved elsewhere - still greet me like an old friend.

They even gave me a handful of perished vegetables at the end of the morning.  They weren't worth eating, but the sheep were delighted.

[Chancer]

You have to feel a bit sorry for French schoolchildren when you learn that they are forced to get up in the morning for school before even retirees do [:D]

[KathyF]

Hi Poppy,

How do the children get from their home to the corner by your house? Do they walk? Could it be that the husband has to take the car to get to work before the children leave for school and they don't have a second car?  Or could it be that the rise in fuel costs is making them be more careful not to make car journeys where there's an alternative? Just trying to show that there could be lots of reasons why this has only recently started to happen. If it's something that cvan't be changed, earplugs really do work.

I realise that Ernie is right about excessive sleep being a waste of time [;-)] but the need for sleep varies very much from one person to another. I'm sometimes asleep until after well after 8 myself and other days I wake up very early and can't nod off again. My answer then is to sit up in bed with a pot of tea and a good book.  Bliss.....[:D]

[mint]

[quote user="Gengulphus"]Most people find that meeting new people in a foreign country is quite difficult to achieve.  Like catching flies with the hoover they do not stay still long enough for you to catch them.  Your circumstances present you with an ideal opportunity.

What would I do?  I would put on my hat and go for a walk precisely timed so that I would be obliged to pass, meet and greet the family who wait outside the house.  And the next day I would do the same, and perhaps even have some desultory conversation.  Et voilà, a week later and you have six new acquaintances.

It will not instantly solve the noise problem, but it cannot make it worse  -  and it might even provide an opening for future improvement.

And if these people are confirmed and inveterate tyre-slashers, such a friendly overture may encourage them to turn their attentions elsewhere.

And, who knows, they might even be pleasant, amusing, interesting or useful people.

I myself suffered a momentary fit of exasperation when two crusty market ladies set up their veg stall right across my front door. Thoughts of going to the mairie, or having a petulant fit, briefly flickered though my mind, but I rejected both as being too energetic. 

As the espresso pot had just bubbled through I took them each a cup of thick dark coffee instead, stepping ostentatiously over their heaps of produce.  (It was 6.45 on a particularly cheerless morning.)  Their stall was never so inconveniently sited again, and eight years later they - having moved elsewhere - still greet me like an old friend.

They even gave me a handful of perished vegetables at the end of the morning.  They weren't worth eating, but the sheep were delighted.

[/quote]

Gengulphus, I enjoyed your post and it made me smile on a cheerless(ish) day of incessant rain.  Thank you.

[TWINKLE]

What would I do? 

I would ask them sweetly if they could wait for the the bus further down the road. 

However, I'm afraid that I would end up resorting to throwing a bucket of cold water over the lot of them on one of my 'bad' days[:)]

[Poppy]

When I was at school from what I can remember [blink] I got up at 6, most of my working life I was up at 6 and now unfortunately it seems I want to get up after 8.

The parents don't work and have two cars so no problem transporting the children. I think the new pickup point has just started because they have finally persuaded the driver to stop here.To stop at the other end of the chemin nearer their house would mean the bus has to change route. I am a bit concerned that the children are not met off the bus at night even though all the family see them off in the morning. Only pleased they don't bring the cockerel.

 Gengulphus I too enjoyed your post. We are already acquainted with the family [:D] OH also thinks it is too energetic to do anything and then complains that he is too tired and can't possibly do any chores. Perhaps I am missing something [8-)]

Thanks for the suggestions Twinkle, trouble is there are no other places where the bus can pull off the road. If earplugs don't work might try the bucket of water.