How to minimize interruptions?

Post Reply New Topic

I'd like to move to a place with fewer noises that make it hard to get naps when I need them. If I'm woken rudely, I can feel scrambled for days.
The candidates are:
1. An isolated cabin. Probably very few visitors, but I'd worry about a hostile group showing up, along with fire and other normal worries.
2. A cabin well behind an occupied farmhouse that would intercept most visitors.
3. An apartment with a front door buzzer/intercom system, living without being well known to neighbours.
4. A room in a shared house where everyone respects my space.

A city would have many noises, but I might be able to ignore them all, rather than wondering about the significance of each noise where I'm not too popular with the neighbours. How have these options worked out for others?

I don't get a lot of unsolicited visitors, maybe one every few months. I think I've offended every religious group that knocks on our door and salespeople have now given up with us. We're also on the Telephone Preference Service (I don't know if you have similar in the US) which means we rarely get a cold call.

The funniest sales pitches I've had was a salesman knocking on my door trying to sell me a new mobile/cell phone contract. It went something like this:

Salesman: We could save you money on your existing phone contract!
Me: I doubt that.
Salesman: How much do you pay at the moment?
Me: Nothing.
Salesman: Oh...<thinking>... Do you have a mobile phone?
Me: no.
Salesman: Ah, then how much were you paying when you did have a mobile phone.
Me: Nothing.
Salesman: How?
Me: I've never owned a mobile phone.
Salesman: <after a long pause> Well, you could save you money on your landline bill if you used one of our mobiles!
Me: I doubt that.
Salesman: How much are your landline calls each quarter?
Me: About £5.
Salesman: <after a REALLY long pause> Oh, I don't think we can help you.
Me: I know, I told you that.

They've never come back.

I've also had a cold call put on speaker for the rest of the sales team to hear. It was also recorded so they could use me as an example of an awkward person. We (me, the caller, his supervisor and the rest of the sales team) actually had a good laugh with that call!

So, I guess I'd look into a US equivalent of the TPS to stop phone calls and start offending/annoying people who knock on your door

That sounds good, except that here, I'm in a small town, and the offensive people are also neighbours and mutual friends, who find ways to make life hard for me.

Ah, then that's a tough one. I also live in a small(ish) town. I know a fair few of my neighbours but generally, we just say "hello" when we meet, have the occasional chat or they may want to borrow my long ladder or a tool. I'm not sure how I'd deal with neighbourly interruptions without offending everyone. I'd love to live in a cabin away from everyone else as well

This works very well for me. I've never even met most of the people from my stairwell, which is just the way I want it. Very few greet me the few times we meet in the stairs, and I only say hi if someone says hi to me first, because I think it's a waste in the first place to use a word to acknowledge recognizing someone just because you happen to live in the same vicinity, and I have no interest in getting to know them at all so I sure don't encourage them.
Despite there being several kids in the stairs now, it's really pretty quiet here.

There are seldom people on the door, and when there are and I'm not expecting any type of visit or delivery, I play 'not at home'. It doesn't happen often.

City living is perfect for anonymity.

You could live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere if you're willing to have faith the gods/universe will protect you from harm. It would be a scary life and the risks would be high if you needed medical or emergency help as it would be so far away, however I can definitely see the appeal of such a life. I've often dreamt of setting up home in the middle of a forest. Occasionally you would probably encounter people but it could be quite a magical experience when you did as in the middle of nowhere there would be less of a sense of social rules applying.

A cabin at the back of a farmhouse would be great if you get along well with the farmer. That's a situation where you've got to be able to rely on whoever owns the farm. You're placing yourself in a vulnerable position if they turn out to let you down.

I've never tried a shared house but would be open to the idea if the other occupants were intellectuals, actors or artists. I wouldn't dream of sharing a house with business workers or average people. I think that kind of living situation is intense and at least if you share it with free spirited kind of people they will be more likely to live and let live. My sister has done it a few times and she's often felt she had to move because of disagreements with others or wanting to move on to new opportunities. So I would say that's not a very secure route to take.

An apartment is quite good, preferably one with an intercom, so you can maintain a distance and security. I've lived in such a situation and would do so again. I jumped in too fast. Be wary of that. Where I went there were drug addicts as neighbours. They didn't interfere with my life directly but they annoyed me very much. Loud music was played, the wafting aroma of skunk came up through my floorboards and made me feel nauseous (second hand smoke effects) and shady people kept turning up and loitering in the hallways.

Another situation that's possible that I would personally like is someone taking you in as a lodger. That would be like a houseshare but instead of 4-5 people doing it just living with a single person, a couple or family. Ideally I would like a single woman to take me in as I think that's the ultimate living arrangement, one that involves romance.

If you do choose to live in a town or city on the other hand I'd recommend, based on my own experiences, one where there's a university and low unemployment. Many people become criminals when unemployed and a more educated populaton is easier to interact with when they do get involved with your life, even if you don't want them to. I've often pondered on a dilemma: which would be better? To live in a modest house among neighbours you hated and who hated you in a small town with a dead end economy; or to be homeless in New York City or San Francisco? I'm not sure I can easily answer that. Some places are so dire and dismal to live in, they don't feel like homes, even when you have one above your head.

I regularly think about running away and going to live in a forest or what have you. I don't have survival skills though. If you're thinking of a cabin in the middle of nowhere, do you have any hunting/firemaking/fishing kind of skills? You could resurface into civilization once a week maybe to get essential supplies but if you could manage for food and shelter you may otherwise be alright.

I live in a rural area of about 2000 people. It is generally very quiet. The houses are spaced out a fair bit so it feels private. Try a sign on your door requesting no interruptions.

Thanks for the replies. I chose this area because of the higher concentration of artists, who tend to value eccentricity, and the slow economy, which left the older houses affordable. I need extra space for a workshop.
When the town has become unbearably noisy, I have been living in a camper on a friend's farm. I have the skills for off-grid life, but I'm 68 - I don't want to spend the rest of my life just housing myself. I'm not too worried about hospital access. We do have 'phones and helicopter-ambulances, but a hospital stay would turn me into a zombie sponge for expensive drugs, and I'd rather die naturally.

I am vegan, and have had good luck with vegetarian co-ops as a compatible environment. However, I have since become a sociobiologist, and subject to attack by most "progressive" people. I remember a few pensioners mixed into the student areas I used to frequent, but don't know how well I'd relax among the youth today. The rents look like an obscene waste of money in the nicer areas.

A sign on the door, combined with several personal pleas and even bribes has had almost no effect. I might try an automatic bright flashing warning right on the door, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone then broke in to see if I was OK. "Sleep disorder" just does not sound potentially lethal to most people, even though causing one is considered torture.