Three streets on this island have houses and guesthouses on the same side of the road, and almost every noise complaint the office receives comes from those three.
The arrangement, agreed with the operators, is simple. Outdoor music stops at eleven at night. Nothing takes place on the beach after eleven. Generators run in enclosures. Boats do not load between nine at night and six in the morning. Building work does not start before seven, and does not happen at all on Friday morning.
How a complaint works. Ring the office number or the number on the noticeboard, which reaches somebody at any hour. The complaint is written down with the time, and the operator is telephoned that night rather than the next week, because a noise complaint answered on Tuesday about a Saturday is worth nothing.
A first complaint is a conversation. A second in the same season is put in writing. A third goes on the agenda of the next open meeting with the operator invited, which is uncomfortable and has only been needed once in four years.
Residents also make noise. Weddings, funerals and the football ground at the end of a match are part of living here, and the council will say so to a guesthouse that complains about a wedding, in the same words it uses the other way round.