Most of you who know me know that I was born in Germany. I bring this forth only as background. Germany is a country with incredible rules and regulations most of them written down somewhere in the bureaucratic jungle of various city offices. I have visited there myself with relatives on a few occasions and have been blown away by some of the rules. My aunt, for example, will do laundry only on Mondays and Tuesdays is always for washing windows whether they need it or not. I asked her once "what if you skip a Tuesday?" and the reply was "the neighbours will talk".
I recently came across an article in a German on line magazine that spells out a few more rules.
A German man took his neighbour to court because the frogs in his neighbours pond were too loud! The frogs won. The court told the man to get earplugs.
In another case this one over barking dogs (caveat to my neighbour, your dogs are fine and don't bother me), the court decided the dog may only bark 30 minutes a day in 10 minute intervals. How the hell can you get your dog to do that?
Quiet time in Germany is from 8 PM to 7 AM and all day Sundays. I have to admit this one sounds quite pleasant to me, it sure would be nice not the hear lawnmowers on Sunday evenings.
Barbecues are only allowed once month and I must admit I could not live with this rule as I grill most of the summer weather permitting as does most of the neighbourhood. Seems the smoke and smell bothers some people so they came with this rule.
There are so many more rules I wont bore you with but I think that if we all treat our neighbours as we would like to be treated there would be a lot less conflict.