I live in an older neighborhood with decent-sized lots (about 1/3 acre) and our backyards face each other. The neighbor behind me just built a carport in his backyard and then installed a dual-light fixture on the corner of it. It’s apparently on a timer, because it seems to stay on until about 11:00 PM each night. The damn thing is almost exactly in my line of sight as I sit in my den and watch TV. Drives me nuts. I can see several backyards from the den and there are a significant number of trees in all the yards, but this thing must have two 150-watt equivalent flood lamps in it and they line up exactly with the gaps in the trees. The owners are known to be a bit prickly about things so I’m contemplating if I should take any action (other than getting out my air rifle).
That’s one for me… The sound of children enjoying themselves makes me grind my teeth.
Probably not-so-benign, but. . .
This reminds me of the amateurs who get past the TSA screening portal, and hover around the luggage X-Ray machine’s chute and conveyor belt, ‘recombobulating’ themselves at that specific spot, blocking all of the other folks from getting their luggage.
Here’s what you are supposed to do. Grab your bag and tray as soon as it’s out, and take it elsewhere, like the plentitude of benches in the specifically-designated ‘recombobulation area.’ By blocking that conveyor belt, you’re holding up the line, causing a traffic jam that ripples back to the non-screened side.
What double-downs my now-harshed calm is that the TSA people don’t do a damn thing about this. But my disdain for the TSA is for another thread.
Tripler
I am a cranky traveller.
I have a family next door to me, with 5 small kids, that rent the duplex just outside my window. They do the same thing. After work, I come up to my home office for school/email catchup/etc., only to hear cranky, unsupervised 2-7 year olds screeching at random intervals.
We’d set up the home office before they moved in, so I’m kinda stuck with piercing 120dB, discordant shrieks.
Tripler
They’re fenced in, so I have no opportunity to yell, “Get off my lawn.” 
Sometimes a customer walks in while we are open for business, or my boss will tell me to do something during work hours. 
But it can actually be frustrating when someone comes in right before we close. They have every right to do so, and we have people who can only make it from work in the last few minutes… but still.
~Max
What always griped me was the people who waited until they got to the X-Ray loading space to start emptying their pockets and stuffing things into their carry-ons. Before I even got into the TSA line I always took a few minutes to do that, so that after I showed the TSA person my boarding pass and ID all I had to do was drop my carry-on and CPAP case on the belt.
I will do that if the line isn’t busy and I’m not carrying much stuff - shoes, jacket, stuff all other things in the jacket pockets, grab my bag and go. MCO has a tram between TSA check and the gates so I can do the rest on the tram.
If that makes you seethe, sorry!
Traveling with kids or during rush hour? Throw all junk into the bin and walk to the benches. People who ‘recombobulate’ and hold up the line are not being reasonable IMO.
~Max
I guess that was you in front of me last week.
I might have wandered through my neighbor’s yard with a broom, and redirected their “5000 Watt Kleig Light” … just a degree or two made a world of difference, and apparently they’ve never noticed.
I love the fact that the Milwaukee airport has an area away from the scanners labeled (in big, official Helvetica letters): Recombobulation Area.
Oh, I googled, and found pics! And a t-shirt, too…
Yeah, and then I get mad at myself because they are children. Playing in their own yard. Having fun and laughing and using their outside voices outside. I’m such a bitch.
@ZonexandScout we had a neighbor move in and install security lights, one of which just flooded our kitchen with bright white light. I knocked on their door, explained the problem and offered the solution of moving the light just slightly so that it was lighting up our wall and the neighbor was amenable to the idea. I’ve learned that my complaints are more likely to be acted on if I also offer up a reasonable solution.
If that doesn’t work, affix a piece of reflective metal or even a mirror to a post and plant that in your yard so the metal reflects the light back to the neighbor. The light won’t bother you anymore and it will help light up the neighbor’s carport, which is a neighborly thing to do anyhow.
What, their bedroom window isn’t in the line of fire?
I absolutely loathe getting the top of my ears folded flat during haircuts. Not bent down a little, I mean folded and held down. Under the smock, I’m white knuckled gripping the armrests but my face is cuke as a coolcumber. It isn’t painful but I really dislike it. Seethe is the right term.
Oh good, I’m not alone. People always act like I’m a monster because I hate the sound of children’s laughter.
Me, three. (Four?) They’re kids, they’re playing in their own yard, they’re not even screetching! (that gets you a ticket to purpleHell) but goddamn if I don’t wish damnation upon their noisy souls.
Or I just go back inside.
I don’t mind the sound of happy kids. But I do have a couple:
One’s probably pretty common. The person ahead of me in line with a huge pile of coupons.
Another’s an old one I thankfully no longer have to deal with: Years ago, I lived in the middle of a village; lots mostly under 100 feet wide and a couple of hundred feet long. The people who lived next door liked to make barbecued chicken outside, whenever the weather came anywhere near allowing it.
The same barbecued chicken. The same recipe, judging by its producing the exact same smell. Every two or three days. From around April through October.
I got so sick of that particular smell!
There are three houses in back of me, all with swimming pools. Whenever I ventured outside to sit on my deck and enjoy the breeze and birdsong, that was an automatic cue for a dozen shrieking kids to jump in and ‘swim’ - shrieking ‘help, I’m drowning’, ‘mom, he’s trying to drown me’, ‘eeeeeekkkk!’ As years have gone by and they aged out, the pools have been taken down or filled in, and blessed silence now…Another thing that bothers me is people parking on the street, across the street, and their car is directly across from my driveway. I have the onerous task of backing up very carefully and very slowly, cursing these inconsiderate clods for not parking ten feet higher up or lower down on the street.
I love it! Now I have a new word to use next time I travel.
This was against the law in our family - penalty = no swimming for a week. We never had a proper pool but frequently went to the local public pool and had a big paddling pool in the garden.
If the scream and shout for fun, how can you tell if they are really in trouble.
If I arrive more or less at the same time as ONE other driver, i will do this. Few remember the Right of way rules. Safer just to let them go.
But yeah, if you arrive first, you go first.
Not to mention, those are a major source of air pollution. There are no smog devices, clearly.
I admit I hate them. I even grit my teeth my my own gardener uses one (fortunately never to excess per your example).