The ambassador’s letter complaining that his neighbours’ dogs were making it impossible for him to sleep, and his request that the dogs be restricted from barking between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am sparked some anger and uncontrollable laughter among upper St Andrew folk yesterday.

The envoy, in a letter dated February 5 addressed “To all neighbours” of his residence in Jack’s Hill, said that the incessant barking by dogs in his neighbourhood has caused him to consider leaving the island.

“Without exaggeration – the situation is so awful that we are considering to terminate our term of duty in Jamaica,” the ambassador wrote, adding that his deputy was having a similar experience and was also considering leaving the country as well.

He opened his letter with cordial greetings and commented on the perfect location of the residence into which he and his wife moved in mid-2005. The view, he said, was “wonderful” and he had hoped for a “harmonious” relationship with his neighbours.

However, he said that for a long time he and his wife “have not been able to get a normal night’s sleep because of the high level of noise”.

According to the diplomat, the problem they were having was not only from “the reckless DJs and microphones from the Barbican region” or the motor cycles that race on the road where he lives, but the noise “by the permanently barking dogs”.

He said that the dogs near the residence sometimes bark for hours, giving him the impression that they are either ill or are being kept under “difficult” conditions.

He reminded his neighbours of the Noise Abatement Act and said: “Under the given circumstances, I ask for your help and support; I would like to request you to take the necessary measures that the dogs on your premises are not barking between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am, of course with the exception of emergency cases.”