Neighbour Wars

[Profpointy]

Told you this place was going downhill.

To be fair, there's far more important stuff written in Greek.

I must confess my own Greek is little better than my Ancient Mayan

 

[Profpointy]

Ezekiel 23: 5, 12: "And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours, She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men."

Not quite clear - is this seen as a good thing or a bad thing? Quite apart from the neighbour thjng

 

[Drago]

No Jack Smethurst quotes about neighbours yet?

 

[srw]

Not quite clear - is this seen as a good thing or a bad thing? Quite apart from the neighbour thjng

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www..../?search=Ezekiel+23&version=NIV&interface=amp

Standard issue iron age mysoginistic prophecy.

 

[Accy cyclist]

They're not neighbours, just some people who live next door..........

That seems to be the case these days. This image of people just moving into their new home then a knock on the door and the little old lady next door brings round a homemade cake and a pot of tea with her best china cups went out the window ages ago. In reality life's too busy for such "trivialities" as befriending new neighbours these days. When i first moved in here last October i thought i'd start off on a good foot with the women in the flat directly below me. I knocked on her door and introduced myself. I told her that i was having a new carpet with the thickest underlay put down,so the noise from me walking around etc would be hopefully minimal. This polite approach seemed to bamboozle her. "If you do make any noise you'll be the first one i'll be coming to. I don't make complaints,i go straight to the heart of the problem" she replied. Aw,that's friendly, i sarcastically thought to myself. Why couldn't the f..kwit just have accepted my friendly approach,i wondered.
It seems some idiots are just out for a confrontation.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Putting your haemhorroids in a vice is better than Emmerdale.

How come you can get NHS treatment?

 

[DCLane]

Happens everywhere, but the SA across the road appears to be in the wrong.

My street's quiet * - a cul-de-sac of 21 houses but there's a housing association diagonally. Occasionally there's issues there.


* When one pair of neighbours decided to have a fight whilst drunk outside I went in to seperate them and explained clearly that this doesn't happen on the street. They've behaved themselves since.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

[QUOTE 5230658, member: 43827"]( as an aside I find it quite sad that, although there are a fair few families with young kids living in our street now, I never see any of them playing in the street, which is almost through-traffic free).[/QUOTE]When we moved into our house 35 years ago the kids of the existing residents played in the street, then our kids did, the next generations kids did, but as you say kids these days don't seem to. My grandkids aren't allowed to but then again where they live is not suitable, but even when at our house it's frowned upon.

 

[spen666]

I've just been catching up with the local gossip and it's hotting up...

Just for background, we live in a cul-de-sac of 19 houses (on a private road) which, when we first moved in, were mainly occupied by elderly, rather staid (but generally nice) folks. Having a couple of queens move in certainly got the curtains twitching - and inviting them all round for a housewarming was a novelty. Over the years, as the wrinklies have departed this vale of tears, they've been replaced by a much younger and more diverse group (we're close to Addenbrookes and a number of the research parks) and we have (at last count) 17 nationalities represented in the 19 houses.

There's always been a bit of grumbling over the years (like when we had a blessedly short stay neighbour who collected large, noisy American cars) but life is generally harmonious, even if there are certain neighbours one tends not to socialise with that much. But at the end of last year No. 1 was sold (following the death of one of the longest-serving residents) and that's when it all started.

No. 1 (which is a semi-detached bungalow) was bought by a young(er) couple with a small child and a dog - and it was in need of modernisation, having not been touched for many years. The house was to be refurbished, and side and rear extensions added. Planning permission was required for some of the work but no objections were raised - and the builder doing the work was the new owner's father. He's a local chap with a good reputation - he actually built our house.

We all knew there'd be some disruption as the work was undertaken, and likely some damage to verges etc. as lorries delivered and workmen parked in what is a relatively confined road space. One of our neighbours agreed to let people park in front of his garage (as he rarely drives) to help ease any congestion and the builder promised to put things right if there was any damage (as he had done previously when building our house).

And then the work started. I work from home and can honestly say, in my opinion, that the noise and disruption was minimal - and the various tradesman were really pleasant. Weather did delay the work a little but that's outside the control of the builder. We only ever saw Mrs New Owner, as Mr New Owner was working.

But shortly after work started two neighbours began kicking off. One is the rather odd woman from No.2 (which is attached to No. 1) and the other is the neighbour who lives across the road from No. 1.

Mr Across the Road (a rather obnoxious, opinionated South African who has caused problems before) decided that the builders had cause damage to the verge and road outside his house. The verge is heavily rutted - but much of that was there before the building work started, as a result of visitors to his house parking there or people passing on what is effectively a single track road. The road surface has never been wonderful and, although there has clearly been some deterioration, I'd suggest it's mainly weather and general traffic related.

Mr Across the Road decided that the best plan of action was to confront the builder and get into a heated shouting match. Another neighbour intervened and made it clear she'd call the police if he didn't calm down and go away. Over the couple of months that the work took, there were repeated incidents of confronting the builder and then he decided to take it a step further... and involve solicitors.

Mr Across the Road is now suing the builder - claiming he has to re-turf the verge and resurface the road. The only problem is, despite his claims to do so, Mr Across the Road doesn't own the verge (one of our neighbours - who used to be Clerk to the Parish Council - actually has the Land Registry map with all the detailed boundaries on it)... and he can't prove the damage was caused by the building works. His case is further undermined by the fact that less than a year before the building work started, we'd all been canvassed about getting the road done (it's not adopted so we have to pay for any works).

And then a couple of weeks ago, the family moved in to No. 1 and Mr Across the Road decided to start having a go at them. Bad move - it turns Mr New Owner is an Occifer of the Lah.

Mrs No. 2 is frankly a bit batty, and seems to be somewhat under the influence of Mr Across the Road. She actually sold the couple at No. 1 part of her garden to allow them to build the rear extension. They got all the proper agreements in place and signed off... and she was very happy about it at the time.

Now she's decided (having spent much time huddled with Mr Across the Road) that, despite having taken independent legal advice (which was paid for by the couple at No. 1) they've diddled her and that they should knock down the rear extension. She too has consulted solicitors.

The builder has rectified all the bits he promised to sort out - with the exception of the verge and road outside Mr Across the Road's. He even sorted out a drain we were having a problem with (he noticed it wasn't draining properly and offered to take a look).

According to our neighbour Richard (the font of all knowledge on things local) Mr Across the Road been told by his own solicitor that he doesn't have a leg to stand on but he thinks he knows better and has decided do away with the solicitor and to pursue the case as a litigant in person. Apparently he told Richard at great length that the solicitor didn't know what he was talking about.

Mrs No. 2 went as far as sending solicitors letters but - unlike Mr Across the Road - she seems to have heeded the advice of her solicitors, and she's not proceeding with any action... limiting herself instead glaring at the new neighbours whenever she sees them and complaining about their dog.

This could all be a rather costly lesson for Mr Across the Road - and rather fun to watch... Beats EastEnders any day!

Is this one of the questions from the Local Law College Exams?

 

[spen666]

Mr Across the Road is the one everyone tends to avoid. He's a rather obnoxious, opinionated South African, who always thinks he right ....

Why does a certain Spitting Image song come to mind as I read your descriptions of him?

 

[Deleted member 26715]

Why does a certain Spitting Image song come to mind as I read your descriptions of him?

Cough https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/neighbour-wars.233534/post-5230421

 

[pjd57]

I moved into a new build house 5 years ago, so we were all starting from scratch.

Lots of introductions and saying hello, and on the whole it's stayed that way.

One or two don't acknowledge that you even exist , but in general it's very friendly.

And we do " borrow" sugar ( or whatever else we run short of).

I also get to blow up tyres and oil chains etc for local kids, but always with the " get your dad to check it " health warning.

 

[cd365]

@User what a great story the OP is. I really enjoyed reading that. The bit about a couple of queens moving in got the curtains twitching had me laugh out loud. I hope Mr Across the Road has a nice bill coming to him, what a crappy neighbour

 

[roadrash]

I get on with all my surrounding neighbours, I live in a semi detatched and the adjoining neighbours are brill.....its my daughter and granddaughter that live there

 

[robjh]

My street is a fairly harmonious place, if you ignore the periodic night-time rows and door-slamming from next door. However, before we moved in, our house had apparently belonged to a family with a 'reputation' and been the focus of a minor local scandal, and one of our neighbours refused for some years to cross our threshhold for fear of being seen entering 'the (family name)'s house'. My Dad has now moved to the village too, to a house a few streets away, where the previous occupant fell out so badly with the landlords that she had a court order to keep her away from the property. I think we are calming influences.