Everyone has neighbors that have been a pain in the neck at some point in their lives. My pains in the neck have been so since I first moved in nearly 20 years ago. I bought my house from my mother, who had inherited it from my grandmother when she passed a few years earlier. When I moved in, there was never any "Hellos" or "Welcome to the neighborhoods" from them. And that was fine. The very first communication with them came a few weeks into my moving in. There was a letter stuck into my door. In the note was a bullyish note. They demanded that I have the tree trimmed on the side of my house near the property line. They gave me thirty days to comply.
Huh? What was going to happen after thirty days? I have no idea, but a threat of some sort was implied. I was new to the neighborhood and didn't want to be a bad neighbor. I had the tree trimmed...within the week.
They had five kids of their own, I believe. The wife, Susan, ran a daycare out of the house. As such, they wanted to keep the area in front of their house free for parents to drop off/pick up their kids. So what did they do? Parked their excess personal cars in front of my house. I know I don't own the street--but really! Where were my guests supposed to park?
Then there was their obnoxiously huge trailer. They would leave that parked in front of my house for weeks at a time. During the pandemic, it was literally there for months! I know I could have called and complained to the city---but that's not the kind of guy I am.
The husband, Chris, I absolutely despised. I had heard he was a former prison guard. There had been some altercation at the prison that may or may not have resulted in a death (neighborhood gossip is murky at best) and he was blamed for it and was fired--or so I was told. But then, he sued and won or something like that--whatever. I mention this only because you can tell he had been a prison guard. He always seemed to be trying to be intimidating. He was rather like a bully. Whenever I drove or walked by and he was in his yard or driveway, instead of a wave or smile--he'd turn his back to me. That was fine. I did not want to be his buddy.
And his damned orange safety cones... He had them out all of the time, when he was washing his car or whatever. When he'd pull the big trailer out and park it in front of my house, there was invariably an orange cone on the street near the rear corner to warn off motorists (who apparently couldn't see this big, hulking mass before them).
I always got the feeling that they thought they owned the neighborhood or something. I remember the community pick up last year where the city picks up anything (old furniture, dead TVs, tires, tree limbs, etc.) left in the street that the trash collectors wouldn't take. Instead of leaving their debris in front of their house, they left it in the street in front of mine.
Last spring (2020), not long after my body started giving out and I went on disability, freaked about my future, I got a notice in the mail from them. This time, without any consultation from me, they announced we needed a new fence, and my share was $1,000. Of course, they included the plans for the new fence--which they were doing all around their property's perimeter. I had no say in the style, the design, or even which way the fence faced. Their letter included the citation of a city code that said neighboring residents had to share the costs.
The code does say that, I looked it up. But this was just more intimidation on their part. The code also says that if one neighbor has a significant, provable financial hardship than that does not apply. There was also mention that if the repairs/replacement were done for personal aesthetic reasons, than the cost fell to the homeowners initiating it. Gee... it's funny how they failed to mention that part. Especially since they had it all designed and worked out without any consultation with the neighbors at all.
Less than a week after receiving the letter saying a new fence was needed, Susan snuck over and left a note on my porch. I saw this on my security cameras and went and retrieved the letter. It was telling me that work on the fence was starting a few days hence. What? I sent them a letter telling them I could not afford it--and why.
They did put a new fence up, but I never heard about it again.
I know none of this sounds all that horrible. They weren't loud. They didn't vandalize anything. They weren't druggies or gangsters. They were just cold and pushy and seemed to feel overly superior. They were just unpleasant. They made me feel very uncomfortable, even in my own house on my own property.
The odd thing is, and I don't know if she ever remembered or knew this or not, but Susan and I had worked together in the late 80s/early 90s at a hardware store. We weren't friends necessarily then, but we didn't dislike each other at all. I do remember once she took me and several others from work to show us her new house that was being built. Who ever would have dreamed that someday we'd end up neighbors?
One time while we were working, her husband came in. She introduced us. "Did you know my husband was black," she asked, seemingly looking for a reaction. So? Not a big deal to me. But thinking back on it, you could see that maybe the fact that their marriage was interracial had caused some strain...and they were developing chips on their shoulders?
I moved out of my house for a few years while I went back to school and started my new career as a nurse. During that time, I had the house rented out. One time the house was vacant, I rented to an African American couple. I liked the couple...and I also thought it would be a nice way to show the neighbors that race didn't matter to me. If they bothered to notice, I'm sure they came up with other reasons to dislike me.
I remember that Susan was pregnant and had her first child while we worked together. She was pregnant with her last kid while we were neighbors...and the oldest lived there as well, until he moved out. I think they all moved out--and it seems like they did so as soon as they could. I never spoke to the kids. They were rarely out in the front.
The reason for thinking about my neighbors is because, in early September, a for sale sign popped up in their yard. WHAT!?! I thought they would never, ever leave. Their house is paid for by now. They have a pool, a spa, solar panels, an addition was built, and now they have their new fence. But, lo and behold, the for sale sign appeared... A minor miracle had happened.
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