We have a medieval market town a few miles away, where a church bell rings every half hour. It has done so for the last 800+ years. Some “in-comer” residents have complained about the noise and want the bell rung at 9am, 12md and 6pm only. Oh the furore! The local paper is hilarious at the moment. And they don’t even live anywhere near the church.
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Don’t you love it! They move to an area because they love the flavour of the town, all those lovely quirky things. But once there, they want to shut the door so no one else can come and then try and change the basics.
Something similar here - people bought a house next to a 150 year old dairy farm. Obviously when they inspected the home it was during the day and the cows were doing the quiet standing around thing, eating grass and looking picturesque. At 4 am in the morning when the dairy part happens they are noisy and the lights are on!
They new owners complained to council to get the dairy to change the hours or stop.
Needless to say the request was declined … but really…the dairy was there!
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Yup. It’s like the people in Los Angeles who pay millions to live by the Hollywood sign and then gripe about all the tourist traffic. In fact, they’ve successfully lobbied the city to close a lot of the hiking trails in the area.
People. Sheesh.
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It’s an inversion of what we call the “Nimbys”. "Not in my backyard"ers. With the moneyed flight out of London for the good life, we have numerous stories of people moaning about cocks crowing and country smells etc. Me, I love a good bit of muck spreading, even if I end up with flies on the white laundry drying up on the line. They shake off after all?
Yes, I love it!
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Stupid, stupid City Council.
I feel a Tourette moment approaching.
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I remember doing a tour of Roman Britain and one town had the bells ringing every half an hour, we thought it was lovely, really unusual, colchester or St. Albans
Growing up in Ireland, you would hear the bells ringing every hour for mass, you don’t hear bells any more. I live close to the sea and we get huge sea gulls, you could seat on these lads they are so big. They rob food straight off the tourists, chips and ice-cream, if a bowel opens on you, you will be white.
I love the sound of old trains and children playing in the city, I can hear my children’s school at break from my attic, its life.
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My most recent, wonderful guest told me how much she enjoyed hearing the sound of the school kids playing at recess, as my lot backs up to a schoolyard. I actually have a “children playing” noise warning in my listing.
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I love your colorful descriptions!
It’s like that old joke goes:
Know who the latest proponent of slow growth is? The guy whose escrow just closed!
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I don’t have a photos of my cat on the listings, however, prior to accepting any booking request, I do require everyone to confirm that they have:
a) read my entire listing
b) have read and understand all of the house rules and
c) know that there is a friendly, 18 year old indoor cat in all of the common areas and are okay with this
This has ended up serving me well. It’s on the Airbnb message stream, so no one can plead ignorance, and I believe that there’s a new-ish thing that guests have to click about house rules (if memory serves), so it may be duplicating, but no one has complained or had any issues with this and zero people freaking out (hopefully not testing the fates) about Oliver the loving cat who just wants to snuggle. In fact, many guests ask if it’s okay if they can sleep with their bedroom door open so that he can sleep with them (basically, we’re all his b$tches)!
Of course I want to stab myself in the eyes with forks every time I have to write those questions over and over (yes, I know that Air has an option where you can just push a button for repeated messages, but apparently I enjoy the torture). 
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Our cat has been name-checked in our last two reviews - “the added bonus of the lovely Lola, their delightful cat”, etc. Perhaps we should use her as a marketing tool? - “you too can experience the pleasure of having the cat jump on your face at four o’clock in the morning, of her using her litter tray while you’re eating your breakfast, and of her throwing up on your rug”. Worth an extra £10 per night, I’m sure!
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But it makes sense (I’m not saying it’s right, there are many business practices that morally speaking aren’t right) to favor clients who aren’t costing you as much money.
Us Irish are full of it !!!
This is a very interesting thought. I do believe they keep records of what we call in about. I would imagine a host or guest that calls in about every little thing gets flagged. I am willing to bet.
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It can be unnerving what they see. I remember the first time I called in to one of my credit card companies and they said “first, we’d like to thank you for being an account holder since 1989.” Now I kind of expect special treatment when I call to customer service of any company. LOL.
I know what you mean. My bank, credit card company, broker…amazing lightening-fast bend-over-backward service.
Department stores, not so much. … 
OMG!
I rarely shop at department stores or use their credit cards. But last year I bought my modular bookcase set for my living area on Pottery Barn. They had a significant (worth $900+) offer if I bought it with their credit card so I did. Then in Oct I ordered a recliner intending to pay for about half of it with the coupon I got from the prior purchase and I get another $200 coupon. I won’t bore you with details but between the two orders I’ve spent hours on the phone or emailing about these orders. I hope to have my recliner in May. Once I get that and use my remaining credits (not ordering furniture) I am closing that account and vowing to never buy furniture from them again.
What!? Two more months before you get your recliner?!!
Wow, that’s quick…took me three months.
And, that didn’t end the saga.
Wait until you discover the flaw, or whatever. … 
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I left that part of the story out. The recliner arrived, two weeks later than the expected date, but was damaged. So they shipped it back and ordered another one. No notification to me at any point in the process. It was only by going online and checking did I discover something amiss and start calling. So five or six calls later I get shipping refunded and my $900 credit applied and my new bonus certificates mailed. The 2nd recliner will cost me only $660 and I have another $200 in credits so really $460. It’s a nice recliner for that price. Good thing I wasn’t in a hurry. I’d like to put the $200 towards more furniture but it’s such a PITA to get furniture from them. There’s no PB store in my town so that doesn’t help. Maybe I’ll just get some new overpriced linens.