Leaf blowing neighbours leave resident sleepless
A Germiston resident is tired of the leaf blowers in her neighbourhood disrupting her sleep.
Sleepless in Germiston writes:
I am a shift worker who is terrified of going to sleep in my own home.
No, it’s not because I am afraid of the scourge of crime, it is because I am so on edge about being woken up unexpectedly, that I cannot get to sleep.
I have now resorted to grabbing precious hours of sleep in my car in the parking lot at work.
And the reason for this? Leaf blowers!
We used to have just one in the neighbourhood, but now they are proliferating.
At any time of the day, one or more of them can start up, shaking me out of sleep.
They are definitely way louder than any other home appliance that I have ever experienced; and I have been a shift worker and sleeping during the day for decades.
The noise is loud and high-pitched and can go on for hours and hours.
You may ask why I have not appealed to my neighbours to assist me in this.
Well, I have.
I tried the first owners of this device in my neighbourhood and was met with anger and vitriol.
I can only come to the conclusion that people who cannot see the harm these devices cause cannot be reasoned with.
So I have simply been too afraid of confronting other neighbours for fear of receiving more anger and spite.
The gardener across the road has been extremely threatening.
On one occasion I came outside my own home to take a photo of my own rain gauge because of the heavy rain we had been experiencing.
The gardener launched himself towards me, waving the leaf blower threatening, saying he was going to “come over there” and “get me”.
But, he too, wears no protection for his ears from the loud noise.
Nor does he, or any of the others wielding the device, wear face masks to protect them from the dust blown up.
This must surely be a violation of labour codes.
The noise is way over what would be legal exposure in another work environment.
The dust that is blown up – particularly from the road surfaces – is toxic because of car exhausts.
And why are roads blown anyway?
And not to mention our smaller earthly neighbours — insects and bees — who are blown away into the air by this unnatural hurricane.
What do other residents feel about this, the new terror of suburbia?
Have a story?
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