After arriving in Switzerland some years ago I was told repeatedly how much the Swiss value their quiet time (22H to 07H), it was even written on our contract for our flat, and there was even a paragraph in the "Xenophobe's Guide to Switzerland" making fun of it in a good-natured way, so I assumed quiet nights were pretty important to the super-efficient Swiss who need decent sleep to remain super-efficient.

For the past six (yes, SIX) Sundays, we have been awoken at twenty to bloody 5 in the morning by a supercharged roadsweeper cleaning the pavement outside.

Thoroughly.

OK, I can understand that Sunday morning is probably the quietest time in the week they get to clean the road but why does it have to be so early?? It's still quiet on our road until after 7 on a Sunday.

Guaranteed, if I flushed the toilet or had a shower at this time, someone in the building (or maybe even the adjoining building, or somewhere further down the road) would have the police round before you can blink!

It's the bells that get me...

Church clock - on the hour and half hour - all night long...

Sandgrounder - A complaint to the Gemeinde is in order. They set the rules and presumably they are cleaning the pavement. Totally ridiculous imho.

You are lucky. Every quarter of an hour here. Still, it could be worse. I once stayed with a friend for a weekend and his local church clock was distinctly unpleasant on the ear, also every 15 minutes. I didn't sleep well that weekend.

The roadsweeper here does its rounds between 6:30 and 7 every morning. Not quite as bad. If it's any consolation, you do get used to turning over and going back to sleep again on a Sunday morning.

What really gets me is the building noise. As soon as one project is finished, another starts up. And why do they have to use so many drills / grinders / saws, even on a new building?

Tim Allen syndrome ...

I think I see the theme for a humorous web page there

saturday morning at 6, i was woken up by a series of loud noises and flashes of fireworks (sort of 'daylight' fireworks )... some say it is a tradition to announce/celebrate the marriage of a local firefighter. if it's legal or illegal, i don't know...

Not with a 10 month old baby who thinks, "Hey, it's morning! Time for action!"

Ah, you've got me there.

What really got me about 5 1/2yrs back was the following...

I used to play the piano during the 'normal' hours 9am-9pm... Nobody has ever complained, well that's what I thought...

Anyway, I got a call from the Estate Agent saying, there have been complaints in the house, that my music was too loud... Now why on earth can't people walk down a flight of stairs, knock your door and say, 'could you please turn the music down a bit'??? So much to hostility and privacy in CH... You have to call the estate agent for him to call you... Where's the efficiency in that???

This is an oft heard complaint 'why didn't they simply come to me and say?'.

Why should they? There are channels for complaints that will avoid confrontation with two nieghbouring parties - and this is why I would always go through the landlords in cases like this. I have had too many neighbours who got so shirty when a complaint was put to them directly and made matters worse...

Sounds like you have had to make a lot of complaints to your neighbours!

I am new to Switzerland and have been told by a number of people that the Swiss prefer directness. Perhaps this is not the case after all!

I am not sure what our contract say, apart from the cost that is, our relocation agent sorted it out for us. I want to ask our Hauswart whether I can hoover between 12 and 2, but seldom see him and when I do I am rushing off to get girly to school. time will tell. It is pure hell without carpets, we are getting fluffballs like tumble weed in the flat so a daily hoovering is essential followed by the back breaking mopping. I lived too long with a daily homehelp, how I miss her!

Anyone fancy my noise level? I live right next to the University Hospital, ambulances, helicopters 30 metres over our roof, the trams breaking at full speed, the police, building works for the ETH about 50 metres away and a restaurant below that occasionally fancies itself as a nightclub. It's quite lively. Did I mention the idiots who need to compensate their lack in other areas by speeding up the road at high revs in the middle of the night?

I'd happily swap it for bells (cow, church, bicycle) but I also realise that living in the city means noise so I try and blend it out. If you want to hear the noise, you will and sadly your brain starts to expect it, making it worse. If there is any way you can learn to ignore it, try, it'll work. Often being woken up is due to being in a light sleep phase rather than the actual intensity of the noise.

Still, building and so on should not start before 7 am and you can complain, at least I was told so. For more legal info go here. Not the best layout I'm afraid...

There is even a website on noise and how to deal with it, sadly German only.

I tend to sleep with ear plugs when in Switzerland.
Still don't get my share of the duvet though .

Sod romance, two duvets is the way to go. And yes, sometimes earplugs are the last resort. I get my earplugs here, the Love and Happiness ones are amazing.

Well, I guess that's where the Swiss lose everyday contact, because of things like that... How can hostility be a healthy basis for peace? The Swiss just simply avoid getting involved, which can also be a good thing, but mostly it also cuts off valuable connections between human beings...

Just spent four days in Suisse-romande at villars-sur-Ollons and heard a lot of cow bells. Now, I have a pathological hatred of wind chimes and this was pure torture for me - dozens upon dozens of cows, all chiming their way around fields. I'm sweating just thinking about it...

So pleased to see that I'm not the only one in Switzerland who has noticed all the noise. Well, pleased is not the right word.

How about cars beeping all the time?

Car1 : Beep ( go on! the light is green )
Car2 : Beeeeeep ( No, I'm on my phone, I'll go when I'm ready )
Car1 : Beeeeeeeeeep Beeeeeeeep ( No, now now now now )
Car2 : Beep beep beep beep ( there's a bus )
Bus : Honk ( Hello boys )
Tram : Riiiiinng ( you're looking nice today )

ALSO. Building works, road drills in Eaux Vives in Geneva starting at 7am and then they take their tea break at 9am and the neighbourhood is quiet again. IDEA - stay in bed and start work at 9am like normal people !

ALSO. My flat is opposite the front door and it bangs everytime someone goes in or out.

ALSO. Everything else.

From having 9 quiet ponies in the field behind my bedroom they have been replaced last week by 15 noisy sheep. Every night one seems to get seperated from the flock which starts the others off. I have now moved onto the sofa. Any rules for sheep?