Thursday, May 30, 2013

Odd neighbours

The road we live on is a cul-de-sac or as Dear Hubby and I call it - a cuddlysac.  We're the end house and to get to our house, we have to drive past two other houses.  So it's houses on one side of the road and green grassy bits on the other side.  I'd always wondered about the grassy bits - if they were communal or if they belonged to each individual house as there seemed to be a stone border in the middle, dividing them into two neat parcels.

I got my answer last week.

Connor was happily going up and down on his scooter the road in front of the two neighbouring houses as I kept an eye on him.  Our house doesn't have a paved driveway for Connor to scoot on, we have a pebbly bit which is really useful as we can always hear who's pulling into our driveway.

One of our neighbours came back just as Connor was coasting merrily along and I immediately called him back.  Connor then quickly got onto the grass to let the neighbour pass and I waved my hand in greeting.  We've been living here since mid Feb and this is the first time I've seen my neighbours.

So if it were me and this is the first time I've seen my new neighbour who looks pretty harmless, very pregnant and is the mum of a young boy, what would I say?  "Hello, so you're my new neighbour!  Nice to meet you at last!"  "Hi, you're the new family, how's it going?"  "Hello, you must be our neighbours, nice to see you!"

Right?  I would have done so.

What I got from my neighbour was "Just to let you know... this road and the gardens?  They're not shared.   They belong to each individual house.  So this patch is ours."

I.e.  GET OFF MY LAND

Fine.   That was the wife.  A few days later, I helped take delivery of some of their parcels as they weren't home.  When the husband turned up to collect them, he was just as brusque even though it was:
1.  the first time we'd met
2.  I had just done him a favour

All he said was "I've got some parcels?  Right, that's them.  Thanks.  Bye." and he took them out of my hands and walked off.

That's the last time I'll be helping you take delivery of your parcels and watching out for you.

That's the first weird family I've met in the village.  Everyone else has been quite friendly.

Doesn't matter where you go in the world, there's always a weird family somewhere.  Lucky for us they just keep to themselves and don't bother us.

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