So you have moved house and are getting settled in. What sort of neighbours do you have? Are they your cup of tea? Your sort of people or are they the neighbours from hell? Since I first hung a mortgage round my neck I have had problems with the neighbours at four of the five properties that I have lived in. I am not sure if I/we are attracted to them or if they are attracted to me/us.My first purchase was a conversion flat. It was the first floor of a Victorian terraced house. The ground floor flat had the same lay out which meant that my bedroom was directly above that of the ground floor flat, in which lived a couple in late middle age. He was overweight and snored loudly enough to wake the whole street. After a few too many sleepless night I decided that I had had enough and moved to a small modern semi-detached house. Initially it was fine, then the neighbour married and let the house to a girl friend who had the television on full volume until 1 am. I could hear every word through the cardboard walls.
By the time that we got married I had had enough of noisy neighbours and insisted that we bought a detached house and we had no problems with the neighbours at our first marital home. Our second house was also fine initially but after two or three years the neighbours' trees grew to the point where they put the whole of our garden in the shade. We politely asked for the trees to be pruned. They were rude and unreasonable about the whole issue. Eventually we managed to get a sympathetic tree surgeon to prune the trees at our cost! The whole fiasco left a nasty taste in my mouth and I was glad to move.
Now we move on to our cottage. The neighbours on one side are no problem but we have the neighbours from hell living on the other side. When we first moved here the people that lived next door spent most of their time away so we got used to it being quiet. Then they moved away. For nearly two years the house was empty and for sale until Del Boy and his WAG moved in with their two children and two dogs. The first thing that they did was to build a big extension which blocks our view of the surrounding fields. We objected to their application for planning application, but it still got approval. I have previously written about them going away and leaving the dog alone. But probably the incident which alone marks then out as the neighbours from hell happened in April last year when he had a fight with the local farmer. The farmer's leg was badly cut and he had to go to hospital to have it stitched up, which resulted in Del Boy being charged with assault. My husband had the misfortune to see part of the fight. He had to give a statement to the police and agree to go to court as a witness if necessary. As it happened out my husband did not need to appear as a witness when the case went to court. Del Boy now has a criminal record and a two year suspended sentence hanging over his head.
On Wednesday afternoon I managed to take the above photograph which I had been intending to take for some time to put on the side bar of my blog. Del Boy saw me taking the photo. About an hour later the neighbour who lives in the house on the left in the photo came round to see me. He was clearly very upset. Del Boy had phoned him to say that I had being taking photos of his garden and I was going to write to the council to complain about his untidy garden. I assured him that I was only taking photos of daffodils in the lane and offered to show them to him. We have had enough problems with Del Boy without him stirring up and inventing any more. Incidentally can you see the garden of the house on the left of the photo? I can't.