Well after reading the BigGirlFeet blog today and what I'm going to write below, perhaps there is no where near a city that isn't subject to people who, for one reason or another, are either obnoxious, or crazy, or rude or selfish and cause their crap to overflow in our little worlds.
So. How do you know if you are intolerant or if it's the other person?
- is it acceptable to play music with heavy bass until 10:30pm on week night when your living room wall is 15' from your neighbour's house, and their bedroom is on that end?
-is it acceptable to always have lots of guests with lots of cars when you live at the end of a cul-de-sac and your guests continuously block neighbour's driveways?
- is it okay if your Jack Russell Terrier terrorizes your neighbours when they try to use their backyards? Is it okay for your dog to bark constantly at everyone and everything and never discipline your dog to be quiet or take him in? Is it okay for said dog to "attack" the fence (that your neighbour paid for) and allow him to tear chunks of wood from the fence when the neighbour tries to garden within 15' of the fence?
- is it okay for your friend's kids to play street hockey in front of your neighbour's driveway, so when a slap shot misses the net (which happens often as they are kids, but the "men" join in too) it hits your neighbours house or their cars? (What's wrong with playing in front of your own house?)
- is it okay to use the fence (the one your neighbour built and paid for) as a back stop for soccer so that boards are knocked out and your neighbour has to fix?
-is it okay to store all the used doors and windows from your job all around your property so everyone in the street can look at your scrap yard?
- is it okay to let your dog, your guest's dog and assorted children run through your neighbours front yard, and don't do anything about it until the neighbour sends them home?
- is it okay to leave your Jack Russell Terrier home alone with the window open so he can bark his head off while standing on the window sill for all the hear?
So when is a neighbour intolerant and when is a neighbour a jerk? Is it all just part of life? I've read some of your blogs and seen some pictures, like these... do we all have to endure one bad egg in each of our neighbourhoods? Is there really a great neighbourhood? And if there is, is there a 'For Sale' sign anywhere?
6 comments:
thank the lord I live in a corner house. I only have to deal with one set of neighbors. I decided to make believe they don't even exist even if I walk about 5 feet away from them. I tried saying "hello" to the "gentlemen" next door, and he never responds. It is so odd. My parents said maybe he can't hear you. Well if you saw a person in front of you moving their lips in a hello motion wouldn't you even acknowledge them by nodding? This happened three times, so now I am making believe they are invisible. It works great. :)
I know! I tried to introduce myself to neighbours across the street but they acted like I was asking them for a kidney - so whenever I drive past, I fake being busy with something else..
I had a very similar experience to BigGirlFeet's bus story (shudder). I do not miss the city one tiny bit. We lived in the same house in Burnaby for 20 years and knew none of our neighbours .... not even to nod at. A very elderly man on one side left a terribly nasty note on my car one time because I was parked half in front of our house and half in front of his. He sometimes called the cops to have us towed. They can't do that, so would phone us instead and politely ask us to move the car so he would stop calling them. He called the City once because he didn't like our back yard. The picture you have linked in this blog.....that's HIS back yard. Yup, Carol & Mike Browne are now living in our house. We are living on 160 acres of pristine quiet and solitude in central BC. I LOVE IT!!!! And there is "community" here, which has been quite an adjustment for us. Neighbours are miles apart but phone each other, visit each other, help each other with chores and tasks with no desire for payment. And everyone waves and smiles at each other, even while driving down the road. That's REALLY weird. We have people we don't even know waving at us. And one more note....we used to get out of the city on weekends by going camping. Trouble was so did lots of other people. And inevitably they were not looking for the same things as us....like QUIET. They'd party and play loud music. Who goes to the woods to play loud music?! Art pointed out that they couldn't do it in the city, so this was their "get away". ARGGHHH!
Thank you Jo - I bet that you are quite happy with your new digs (literally!). You're right, the woods should be a place to enjoy, without bring music blasters and other loud crap!
I bet you're glad you moved away from that old grouch! He had quite the ramshackle property didn't he?
You don't even want to hear our crazy neighbour stories - crystal meth labs, an abusive single Mom in Maple Ridge, the upstairs neighbour getting arrested in her housecoat. We've got stories. But, I think the point is that your neighbours stink. Complete lack of courtesy. It's crazy. I like that we don't know the neighbours here. Except Bennett downstairs and he's okay.
Thank you Carol. I'm sorry to say it because you've had to live next to it, but I think you definitely have had worse neighbours and situations. Whenever I get grumpy about things, I think about some of your neighbours and try not to think about it anyway. Mine are inconsiderate but it could always be worse.... Thanks for sharing and enlightening me.
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