My new neighbour, the complain king

My new neighbour has moved into the unit below ours for slightly more than a year. For the past 20+ years my family has lived here, everything has been peaceful. We have a good relationship with neighbours, be it just a nod and smile when we meet in lifts.

During the past year or so, things became different. All because of this new neighbour. Now, everytime my mum wants to air the clothes, or do some chores that may create a little noise, she'd worry if there'd be yet another friendly visit from my new neighbour. Let's call him mr X.

The first complaint came in the 1st week after mr X and his family moved in. Instead of a friendly visit to introduce themselves, they complained that our aircon unit was dripping and affecting their sleep. Well, our fault, but they could have handled the matter in a more friendly manner, I thought.

Since then, I hear stories from my mum how they'd drop by every now and then, complaining abt the noise we make, the water dripping from our clothes, etc. Well, first of all, we do not make a lot of noise. I mean, who can help it when we accidentally drop a thing or two on the floor? Is there a need to use a stick to hit on the ceiling to create MORE noise to show your unhappiness? Secondly, my mum handwashes the clothes. Yes, she uses her bare hands to wash all our clothes, and then squeeze them dry before airing them. Surely you have tried sqeezing dry your clothes before. How much strength would u need in order to squeeze dry a piece of clothing such they drip no more? Much less to say, a whole pail of clothes? (some of u may say, why not use the washing machine? Well, my mum don't really fancy that: "why waste electricity and water when I can do a much better job?" But now, yes, she's using it more often.)

Living in a HDB block for so long, we've tolerated times when the neighbours above us aired clothes that were dripping onto our clothes. It's just part and parcel of life in an HDB block. mr X, if you are so intolerant of every single thing and consider them a disturbance of life, go get your own pc of land with no one around you. You ask us to be considerate? we ask you to be less self-centered. Learn a bit of tolerance, life in an HDB block does not revolve solely around your family.