It's time for me to write another piece! I am feeling tired and I should have had a decent night's sleep last night but was abruptly awoken at 4:19 am by a huge howling sound, I don't know how else to describe it, a bloody nuisance!

Well, the culprit of course is the neighbour upstairs in the flat above me. Oh, I'm sure that he is a decent chap and he is married and they have a small child, a nice family overall. I do not want to play devil's advocate but I must surely do this as this noise issue has been going on for some time and I am becoming more and more frustrated.

I have been living in my flat since 2002 and the couple above only recently moved in. I have never witnessed any noise issues for the length of time that I have been here.

What is this noise that keeps me in a constant state of grinding my teeth? Pipes! Yes, you heard the word pipes! I know what the cause is. Every time they use their hot water tap this terrible noise starts and continues until they turn their hot water tap off. I am guessing that it has to be an issue with their boiler or something; I'm no plumber so I don't know the exact cause.

Anyway, they are aware of the problem and have been very understanding. I don't want to make myself sound like the busy body neighbour who has got nothing better to do than have a moan and a gripe with their neighbour but everyone, and I am sure you will agree, has the right to a peaceful night's sleep without being disturbed by something that can so easily be rectified.

Ultimately the chap upstairs gave me the number of his landlord so I called and we had a brief chat and he advised me that he would send someone out to take a look, this was several weeks back. Whether this has taken place or not I do not know but the noise remains so I'm guessing that the problem was not fixed.

I'm a peaceful chap and I work from home and all I really do when I am in the flat is read and drink tea as peaceful or as boring as that may sound. I am as quiet as a mouse and do not play loud music, each to their own I guess. I say live and let live!

So, this is where I'm at. What do I do? Do I contact his landlord again and tell him that I was awoken at 4:19 am? I have to be nice and diplomatic as I have no wish to cause conflict. I am at peace with the neighbour above and sometimes we have a brief chat when we pass each other. This situation has to be resolved though and it cannot go on. I just hope that the landlord understands and he doesn't mind paying out to have the issue resolved permanently. We shall see. Life has its hiccups don't you think?