TERRIBLE NEIGHBORS
At Michael's request, here is the story of our terrible neighbors.
Before I start, I should mention that our new neighbors to the right are absolutely lovely. Really, really lovely.
The best way I can describe the neighbors to the left is probably simply to say, "Evil personified."
The week we moved in, they walked over to the property line, and hacked four of our trees off at about waist-high. Their reason for doing this was that the wife, Angela, "didn't want to have to look at them." These "trees" were actually buddleja, which was probably as old as the house itself. The trunks were 4-5 inches in diameter.
Granted, most people cut buddleja to the ground every year, and then let it sprout up. They don't usually let it grow to tree height. However, because of this, you can't actually find a replacement for these--you can find little bush buddleja, but nothing that big, and certainly nothing that old. And regardless of what the care protocols are, they just plain weren't the neighbors' to chop down.
About two weeks later--keep in mind, this would mean that we'd been in the house for less than a month, Angela came over to give me a list of tasks that she would like to see done in our yard. The walls of the shed/garage facing their house were run down, and she would like to see the shed/garage replaced, and the rubbish stacked next to them removed. She would also like us to put up a fence, and do something about the trees on the back border. (The back border is not shared with her property, it's someone else, and actually, the only thing "wrong" with the trees is that there is dense growth, which the birds love, love, love, so she can take her opinions and shove them right up her...uh, never mind.)
She said that they had been on such bad terms with the prior resident, that they'd had to gone to mediation, and that "really, he was quite abusive."
I told her, look, we've just moved in, and I am sure you can appreciate that we have just spent the majority of our money on the move. I said that it is not that we won't make changes, but everything in the world is not going to happen overnight, but that we were willing to make some short-term improvements for the things that were sitting right outside of her window.
On our next free/sunny weekend, we fixed the walls of the sheds and garage, so they look nice. We also removed all of the rubbish that was stacked up next to the walls. So basically, now what she had to look at was a wooden wall.
A few weeks later, she talked to me about the fence again. I told her it wasn't going to happen immediately, and she asked if we would mind if they put up a fence on their side of the boundary. I said of course not. She said that she would like to remove the remaining now-waist-high trees in the process. I told her no. I said I would investigate into having them moved. She said, "but what if they can't be moved?" and I said, "Well, then I guess you'll just have to build the fence around them." She then said again that she would like to be on friendly terms as neighbors, and that she should not have to look at my trees. I said, "I should not have to have someone hack down my trees."
A few days later, I got back to her and said that I'd investigated, and that they could be moved, but not right away, because of them having been hacked off at waist height. An additional shock would kill them. So we'd have to wait. I put this in letter form. I said, "Although both of us would like to be on friendly terms as neighbors, this requires a minimum standard of behavior on the part of both parties. This minimum standard includes not deliberately destroying one another's property."
The husband came over later in the day, shaking. He said that it was not necessary to write letters, that we could just come over and talk. In the course of this conversation, Mike, Angela's husband (Paul), and I proposed a list of possible compromises, and then Paul went off. He came back later in the day and said that he'd talked to Angela, and they'd agreed that they would put the fence up on their side, and avoid the trees.
On Wednesday, they had the fencers come over. Angela put the fence up on the border, and instructed the fencer to dig up all of the trees in the process. I called the police. They said that they couldn't do anything about the first two trees, because they could not see, from the holes, whether the trees had been in my yard or hers. However, the police presence did stop her from removing any more.
What she doesn't know is that I have photographs of the trees, and as soon as I can get some confirmation from the council on the border line, I can still press Criminal Damage charges.
By the time the police left, because of their inactivity, I was sobbing and hysterical. (Not in the presence of the police.) It was so horrible, having someone sitting there destroying something of mine, and not able to do anything about it.
Mike came home, knocked on their door, and told them we had no choice but to press criminal damage charges. Paul's exact words were, "Ooo, I'm scared."
I was so upset. I've never actually wanted to punch anyone before, and I just wanted to punch her. The only thing, I think, that stopped me is that a) I didn't want to be the sort of person who punches other people, and b) at the end of this, I want her to be the only one with a police record.
And that's my take on all of it. I was so angry, I wanted her to pay. I mean, I wanted her to lose some of her trees, or have her lawn ugly, or...just SOMETHING. But I'm not going to do anything criminal just because she's done something criminal. So I felt so helpless.
Then, Mike and I came up with a brilliant idea. She doesn't want to have to look at trees? Fine. The roof of the shed can still be seen over the fence, and we are going to paint the world's ugliest mural on it.
The fence at the back of the garden is only 3 feet tall. Even as we speak, two giant plastic daisies and two giant multicolored pinwheels are peeking over the back fence at her. I have a friend at work who has told me she can get life-sized cutouts, in weatherproof plastic, of all of the teletubbies.
And when she can't take it any longer and has to grab these things from the yard, we'll make sure we have photographs, and that she is booked on Grand Theft Teletubby.
At Michael's request, here is the story of our terrible neighbors.
Before I start, I should mention that our new neighbors to the right are absolutely lovely. Really, really lovely.
The best way I can describe the neighbors to the left is probably simply to say, "Evil personified."
The week we moved in, they walked over to the property line, and hacked four of our trees off at about waist-high. Their reason for doing this was that the wife, Angela, "didn't want to have to look at them." These "trees" were actually buddleja, which was probably as old as the house itself. The trunks were 4-5 inches in diameter.
Granted, most people cut buddleja to the ground every year, and then let it sprout up. They don't usually let it grow to tree height. However, because of this, you can't actually find a replacement for these--you can find little bush buddleja, but nothing that big, and certainly nothing that old. And regardless of what the care protocols are, they just plain weren't the neighbors' to chop down.
About two weeks later--keep in mind, this would mean that we'd been in the house for less than a month, Angela came over to give me a list of tasks that she would like to see done in our yard. The walls of the shed/garage facing their house were run down, and she would like to see the shed/garage replaced, and the rubbish stacked next to them removed. She would also like us to put up a fence, and do something about the trees on the back border. (The back border is not shared with her property, it's someone else, and actually, the only thing "wrong" with the trees is that there is dense growth, which the birds love, love, love, so she can take her opinions and shove them right up her...uh, never mind.)
She said that they had been on such bad terms with the prior resident, that they'd had to gone to mediation, and that "really, he was quite abusive."
I told her, look, we've just moved in, and I am sure you can appreciate that we have just spent the majority of our money on the move. I said that it is not that we won't make changes, but everything in the world is not going to happen overnight, but that we were willing to make some short-term improvements for the things that were sitting right outside of her window.
On our next free/sunny weekend, we fixed the walls of the sheds and garage, so they look nice. We also removed all of the rubbish that was stacked up next to the walls. So basically, now what she had to look at was a wooden wall.
A few weeks later, she talked to me about the fence again. I told her it wasn't going to happen immediately, and she asked if we would mind if they put up a fence on their side of the boundary. I said of course not. She said that she would like to remove the remaining now-waist-high trees in the process. I told her no. I said I would investigate into having them moved. She said, "but what if they can't be moved?" and I said, "Well, then I guess you'll just have to build the fence around them." She then said again that she would like to be on friendly terms as neighbors, and that she should not have to look at my trees. I said, "I should not have to have someone hack down my trees."
A few days later, I got back to her and said that I'd investigated, and that they could be moved, but not right away, because of them having been hacked off at waist height. An additional shock would kill them. So we'd have to wait. I put this in letter form. I said, "Although both of us would like to be on friendly terms as neighbors, this requires a minimum standard of behavior on the part of both parties. This minimum standard includes not deliberately destroying one another's property."
The husband came over later in the day, shaking. He said that it was not necessary to write letters, that we could just come over and talk. In the course of this conversation, Mike, Angela's husband (Paul), and I proposed a list of possible compromises, and then Paul went off. He came back later in the day and said that he'd talked to Angela, and they'd agreed that they would put the fence up on their side, and avoid the trees.
On Wednesday, they had the fencers come over. Angela put the fence up on the border, and instructed the fencer to dig up all of the trees in the process. I called the police. They said that they couldn't do anything about the first two trees, because they could not see, from the holes, whether the trees had been in my yard or hers. However, the police presence did stop her from removing any more.
What she doesn't know is that I have photographs of the trees, and as soon as I can get some confirmation from the council on the border line, I can still press Criminal Damage charges.
By the time the police left, because of their inactivity, I was sobbing and hysterical. (Not in the presence of the police.) It was so horrible, having someone sitting there destroying something of mine, and not able to do anything about it.
Mike came home, knocked on their door, and told them we had no choice but to press criminal damage charges. Paul's exact words were, "Ooo, I'm scared."
I was so upset. I've never actually wanted to punch anyone before, and I just wanted to punch her. The only thing, I think, that stopped me is that a) I didn't want to be the sort of person who punches other people, and b) at the end of this, I want her to be the only one with a police record.
And that's my take on all of it. I was so angry, I wanted her to pay. I mean, I wanted her to lose some of her trees, or have her lawn ugly, or...just SOMETHING. But I'm not going to do anything criminal just because she's done something criminal. So I felt so helpless.
Then, Mike and I came up with a brilliant idea. She doesn't want to have to look at trees? Fine. The roof of the shed can still be seen over the fence, and we are going to paint the world's ugliest mural on it.
The fence at the back of the garden is only 3 feet tall. Even as we speak, two giant plastic daisies and two giant multicolored pinwheels are peeking over the back fence at her. I have a friend at work who has told me she can get life-sized cutouts, in weatherproof plastic, of all of the teletubbies.
And when she can't take it any longer and has to grab these things from the yard, we'll make sure we have photographs, and that she is booked on Grand Theft Teletubby.
posted by Simone @ 7:54 AM
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