Sometimes it takes a blonde...

I've got a mini-committee room next door to my office. Unfortunately the walls are of the "two layers of cardboard on a metal frame" variety, which means it takes all my willpower not to get up and veto any decisions made next door. Generally, I simply turn up my music and hope it's to their taste.

Today, however, they're soundproofing the place.

They arrived early in the morning bearing who-knows-what and started drilling/unscrewing various objects next door. I popped in to see what they were up to and happened to mention that the 50-odd bags of mica soundproofing removed during renovations 3 years ago would work very well in this situation.

Next thing I know - they're doing it! They dragged over a couple of bags of the stuff (at left - who knew they still had it!), cut a few holes at ceiling level (one must endure initial noise and desk vibration for the greater cause), and now there's the joyous sound of mica granules pouring down between the walls. Thank goodness it's a light substance, or we'd have another Jericho* experience! It sounds a bit like a rather heavy downpour....

It remains to be seen how effective this will be, but I can't see a problem if they also block up the 5cm gap at the top of the walls and then request our adjoining window to be closed on meeting next door.

I'm just amazed they actually listened to me. Sometimes it takes a blonde...

*When they first started building with styrofoam blocks (which are then filled with cement), they got a retaining wall of the stuff up where new housing was needed. Unfortunately, they forgot to wait until the cement inside dried before filling in the back - the weight of the back-fill collapsed the entire wall and they had to re-do it! I had a hard time not laughing too loudly.