General Chat

Though, apparently what I SHOULD be doing is making more noise :-S

I had my grandchildren to stay over last night. When they're here, I smoke outside.
Now, between me and my 'Why close a door when you can slam it' and 'Why go over the road to speak to someone when you can all yell at 98 decibels' neighbours, there is a 6ft drop between our back gardens, (mine's the higher and held up with a wall) so, for safety's sake there is a 6ft high panel fence, which THEY replaced when they moved in. They also wanted to chop down a tree at the very bottom of my garden(a grotty elder), which I said they could - in fact I suggested they kill it - they didn't, so it grows and pushes the last fence panel.

I have a 6 ft high gate to my back garden, which I now padlock, as I know they've been in to 'fix' 'their' fence before (they illegally built a breezeblock structure with no planning permission, and covered it with wood planking so it looks like a shed - too close to the wall that is holding up my garden, so they can't get between the structure & my wall to fix it)

I went out to have a smoke, and could hear 'her' on the phone (why do people insist on going into their gardens to make 'private' calls?)
My grandson came out to ask me something, I responded, he went back inside.
I stayed outside.

Then I heard 'her' saying - she's so bl**dy quiet, it's annoying, we never know whether she's in the house or not, or if she's in the garden.
We need to fix the fence again.
No thought of even attempting to ASK me then? :-| :-0

My kitchen window looks out onto the wall of the house next door, The Towers as in Weave Bawl Towers. As soon as they went up in the world and became home owners, that was after they had cleared the huge rent arrears, they knocked down the outside privy which had a sloping roof which let some light into out side kitchen window and built a flat roofed extension which took that bit of light away.

After we had the old privet hedge out to accommodate the wheelchair they put in a five foot larch lap fence which I assume was to stop me watching their high class activities in the garden. Actually, should I ever care what they were up to, I could go upstairs and look out the landing window.

Anyway, so that they can have more room to enjoy their bit of yard which is now a patio they have moved their dustbins to stand against the wall directly outside my kitchen window.

After that act of thoughtful kindness in allowing me to fully enjoy the sight of their bins, I have moved mine round to stand right next to the fence by the yard/patio where they like to sit in the summer so they can enjoy the smell of mine!

I've never come across anyone 'complaining' about neighbours being too quiet, lol!!

I could cheerfully strangle ours at times, in the past we've had police, fire engine, forensics and council round there at various times. Fairly quiet recently apart from the occasional row, where he gets histrionic and she throws things down the path at him :-D

Sheila, they obviously think I want to listen to their conversations!!
I don't need to live next door to them to hear them - I expect they can be heard 5 doors away :-D

Sharron, I carefully choose when I'm going to cut the grass, or have a mammoth session with the hedge trimmer (back & side garden only - where they can't see me)
The front garden is a mixture of meadow grasses and Ivy - topped off by the Yew Tree I was nurturing - that they moved and killed. It now sits, dead branches akimbo, in the middle of the tiny front garden either covered in 'Old mans Beard' or bindweed :-D :-D :-D

...and I really did try to remove the (now) huge Buddleia in my back garden (against the partition fence), but with the weather, it just grew & grew!! Then I thought of the butterflies <3
Then I realised it blocked the light (500watts) they have on their 'shed', which is a maximum of 15 yards from the house - that for some reason they have shining straight into my back bedroom window - and it lights up the landing too :-|

....then I realised it would drop it's seeds onto their carefully orchestrated flower 'beds' set in the oh, so attractive, breeze block wall :-D

My neighbours for several houses in each direction are all smashing people. Am I doing something wrong?

I've lived here for nearly 30 years, Bob - and these are the only loud, noisy ones, who also seem to believe we should all have 'suburban' gardens like his (ie decking, breeze blocks and pebbles for the dogs to cr*p on- which stinks in this heat) and only HE can park on the public road outside his house - meanwhile, outside my house is also (apparently) for his family - they can park 2 cars and take up room for 4. Oh, and it's apparently okay to leave their Alsatian barking all day.

The previous tenants were a young couple - and his band used to rehearse in the attic (which the previous tenant had soundproofed), then they had 2 children - still couldn't hear them. They moved to a bigger house.
The tenant before them played bass guitar (hence soundproofing the attic)- and had two teenagers and a dog.
Never heard them either.

These neighbours moved in about 2 years ago - as did their 'chums' across the road. I've been disturbed about half a dozen times by the police turning in the early hours to a 'domestic' - usually caused by their bolshy son, but mum goes into loud overdrive . :-| :-|

All this in genteel Winchester?

Some of us are more genteel than others :-D

Sharron's met me, I'm sure she'll state that I drink my ale in a very genteel manner :-)