Odd things your neighbours do?
Discussion
CB2152 said:
I was the odd neighbour today.
Went out to wash the car thinking it'd be warmer than the previous day (no ice this morning). Was ok for a bit (not wearing a jacket as they all have scratchy metal bits on them) but it soon transpired that it was actually really f
king chilly. The little thermometer in the garden reckoned it was 1.5 Celsius. Still, I'd done part of the car so I couldn't just stop.
Washing the car in borderline freezing conditions = odd thing your neighbour does.
If it's dirty then...Went out to wash the car thinking it'd be warmer than the previous day (no ice this morning). Was ok for a bit (not wearing a jacket as they all have scratchy metal bits on them) but it soon transpired that it was actually really f
king chilly. The little thermometer in the garden reckoned it was 1.5 Celsius. Still, I'd done part of the car so I couldn't just stop.Washing the car in borderline freezing conditions = odd thing your neighbour does.
Zoobeef said:
CB2152 said:
I was the odd neighbour today.
Went out to wash the car thinking it'd be warmer than the previous day (no ice this morning). Was ok for a bit (not wearing a jacket as they all have scratchy metal bits on them) but it soon transpired that it was actually really fking chilly. The little thermometer in the garden reckoned it was 1.5 Celsius. Still, I'd done part of the car so I couldn't just stop.
Washing the car in borderline freezing conditions = odd thing your neighbour does.
If it's dirty then...Went out to wash the car thinking it'd be warmer than the previous day (no ice this morning). Was ok for a bit (not wearing a jacket as they all have scratchy metal bits on them) but it soon transpired that it was actually really f
king chilly. The little thermometer in the garden reckoned it was 1.5 Celsius. Still, I'd done part of the car so I couldn't just stop.Washing the car in borderline freezing conditions = odd thing your neighbour does.
Very nice.Vaud said:
BritVsRedneck said:
Stuff
The US is an wonderful spectrum of contradictions as a Brit... like being able to go to a store on a motorbike wearing no helmet, buy a shotgun, but not be able to buy fireworks...Why people choose to live in one I don't know.
BritVsRedneck said:
ChemicalChaos said:
All that jazz said:
WTF! f
k the "neighbourly harmony"! I'd have lost the plot after the note about my OHs tat and been straight over there. I can't believe people think this kind of thing is acceptable to do, telling you how to live your life etc. We moved to the US 5 years ago, and bought a nice house in a HOA (Home Owners Association) operated neighbourhood, it's about 25 years old, surrounded matured trees, lakes and parks and walking paths, which we pay around $1200 per year for (even more if your house backs onto the lakes). There's the usual raft of rules you have to know about, can't leave your garage door open for longer than it takes to enter/exit with your car, keep your grass the correct length, permission to paint any exterior part of the house, NO SHEDS ALLOWED!, no working on cars on the drive etc etc.
However there's no HOA police driving around looking for violators, the neighbourhood is old enough now that its really just the neighbours on each street that you have to appease, and so far my wife and I haven't done anything to p$ss off the neighbours. We've painted our front door from white to grey, removed a couple of bushes, and built a giant swingset in the back garden for the kids (which I did make a Solid works model and drawings for and submitted to the HOA, and they told me was OK because its a temporary structure).
However we have some friends, Brits, a few streets away who back onto the lake, it seems the more up-market the houses are the more anal the neighbours and the HOA are to your changes. They asked the HOA if they could remove the mulch (chopped up wood) covering the borders and instead put down white pebbles. They denied them, and suggested black pebbles were more befitting.
Problem was they had already bought the white pebbles, in bags, and they were in a pile on the drive.
A day later they got an official letter telling them to remove the white pebbles from their drive immediately, otherwise, you know, penalty of death.
In our neighbourhood, like I said it more relaxed, but we do have the odd strange ones. There's a respectable elder couple who keep their front lawn impeccably neat, as though it somehow symbolizes everything they are about. They mow it twice daily in the summer, in alternating directions. When we mow our grass, I'll finish, pack the mower away and go inside, I can then count to 10 and like clockwork he will be out there over the road mowing a microscopic amount from his lawn. As though I've somehow shown him up or something?
There's the super religious, ex military retired chap, who is actually an absolutely fu**ing cool guy. He always looks so neat, he treats his wife like a lady, opens the door for her and takes her out for lunch in one of his impeccably clean cars, both HEMI powered with loud exhausts. The strange thing about him is; he had a drain and a sloping floor installed in his garage so he can clean his cars inside the garage! He has a part time job at a hardware store and sets off for work at 5:30am. My alarm clock is the sound of a HEMI with a loud exhaust rumbling past my bedroom at 5:30 in the morning.
When he gets home, he puts on a boiler suit, straps his 2 stroke powered backpack leaf-blower on and blows anything off his grass and the next door neighbour's grass for several hours, the ear-piercing sound of a 2 stoke on full chat for hours drives me crazy!
The upside to all this is, its the most secure place to bring your kids up. Fedex parcels are left on your doorstep all day and they are still there when you get home.
AVV EM said:
Vaud said:
BritVsRedneck said:
Stuff
The US is an wonderful spectrum of contradictions as a Brit... like being able to go to a store on a motorbike wearing no helmet, buy a shotgun, but not be able to buy fireworks...Why people choose to live in one I don't know.
I enjoy working on my car on my property for one thing.
And if i want to paint my house like Balamory, then i will.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@56.6222911,-6.06734...
Edited by SystemParanoia on Friday 27th January 10:44
SystemParanoia said:
AVV EM said:
Vaud said:
BritVsRedneck said:
Stuff
The US is an wonderful spectrum of contradictions as a Brit... like being able to go to a store on a motorbike wearing no helmet, buy a shotgun, but not be able to buy fireworks...Why people choose to live in one I don't know.
I enjoy working on my car on my property for one thing.
And if i want to paint my house like Balamory, then i will.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@56.6222911,-6.06734...
Edited by SystemParanoia on Friday 27th January 10:44
The HOA seems to be a safe-haven for expats from all over, usually brought here to work at one of the large international companies located here.
What attracted us was the safety and pleasant lifestyle offered for our kids, and a great elementary school around the corner. It's also 5 mins drive to work!
Don't get me wrong, I don't fit in here at all*, it really was my wife who drove the decision.
- I work on old cars in my garage, which is now too small for me. For the money we paid for our house in this HOA we could have bought a 10 acre plot with a decent house and outbuildings somewhere close by, but unfortunately in a worse elementary school area.
Mrs Britvsredneck has said we might sell and move when they kids have moved on to high school, as there's no need to be in a certain catchment area.
BritVsRedneck said:
I've got friends who live out in the sticks, and they often hear gunshots from the rednecks next door just firing off their toys in any direction, as though they think the bullets stop at the edge of their land. My friend has found bullet holes in the side of his house a few times..
Someone I worked with (a Brit) had a sister who was married to a yank and when they went out shooting (tin cans) out in the sticks there were bullets flying over his head.He was ex army and said he felt more comfortable when he was in Ireland or Bosnia as he knew who was shooting at him and was allowed to shoot back!
Bloke who lived opposite my parents (and next door to my friend) was a total ahole who did very little but sit on his front forecourt drinking Stella at all hours of the day and night. He had to park his car with the door bang on in line with his front path, and would do this regardless of whether it meant he was 4 feet or 4 mm from the next car. This frequently caused my friend to be boxed in or to come home and find the idiot's car smack in the middle of a space big enough for two.
Between us we decided to troll him a bit.
At around this time, another family member was involved in a 2mph bump in which a Land Rover reversed into the front of her knackered L-reg Astra and, amongst other things, broke and jammed the bonnet catch. A monumental farce ensued in which the Land Rover driver's insurance company (NFU) did everything possible to get out of paying for the damage. This meant the Astra was taxed, tested and insured but was laid up for about 3 months without being used.
Any guesses where we put it?
hole who did very little but sit on his front forecourt drinking Stella at all hours of the day and night. He had to park his car with the door bang on in line with his front path, and would do this regardless of whether it meant he was 4 feet or 4 mm from the next car. This frequently caused my friend to be boxed in or to come home and find the idiot's car smack in the middle of a space big enough for two.Between us we decided to troll him a bit.
At around this time, another family member was involved in a 2mph bump in which a Land Rover reversed into the front of her knackered L-reg Astra and, amongst other things, broke and jammed the bonnet catch. A monumental farce ensued in which the Land Rover driver's insurance company (NFU) did everything possible to get out of paying for the damage. This meant the Astra was taxed, tested and insured but was laid up for about 3 months without being used.
Any guesses where we put it?
HaroldBishop said:
Bloke who lived opposite my parents (and next door to my friend) was a total ahole who did very little but sit on his front forecourt drinking Stella at all hours of the day and night. He had to park his car with the door bang on in line with his front path, and would do this regardless of whether it meant he was 4 feet or 4 mm from the next car. This frequently caused my friend to be boxed in or to come home and find the idiot's car smack in the middle of a space big enough for two.
Between us we decided to troll him a bit.
At around this time, another family member was involved in a 2mph bump in which a Land Rover reversed into the front of her knackered L-reg Astra and, amongst other things, broke and jammed the bonnet catch. A monumental farce ensued in which the Land Rover driver's insurance company (NFU) did everything possible to get out of paying for the damage. This meant the Astra was taxed, tested and insured but was laid up for about 3 months without being used.
Any guesses where we put it?
Apt username for this thread. hole who did very little but sit on his front forecourt drinking Stella at all hours of the day and night. He had to park his car with the door bang on in line with his front path, and would do this regardless of whether it meant he was 4 feet or 4 mm from the next car. This frequently caused my friend to be boxed in or to come home and find the idiot's car smack in the middle of a space big enough for two.Between us we decided to troll him a bit.
At around this time, another family member was involved in a 2mph bump in which a Land Rover reversed into the front of her knackered L-reg Astra and, amongst other things, broke and jammed the bonnet catch. A monumental farce ensued in which the Land Rover driver's insurance company (NFU) did everything possible to get out of paying for the damage. This meant the Astra was taxed, tested and insured but was laid up for about 3 months without being used.
Any guesses where we put it?
2/10 for your post though I'm afraid. Started off well, but the end was a bit weak.
Oh well, just leave it there with flat tyres Willy Nilly said:
Someone just down the road bought a 13 reg B-Max new a few years ago. They are a retired couple and the house looks spotlessly clean. During the summer he will put covers on his east facing wheels in the morning, then in the afternoon the covers will be placed over the west facing wheels. The car is currently sat on their drive with plastic bags over the door mirrors.
Plastic bags over door mirrors to stop birds attacking their reflections?When I was still living at home our house had a driveway at the side and a low wall to the back of the house next door which had a narrow path the length of the driveway. The neighbour who lived there was reputedly a solicitor who had retired to look after his wife who'd had a brain tumour removed. We used to hear all sorts of screaming and shouting from her but I don't think we ever caught even a glimpse of her.
I had bought my first car and it was living on the drive pending me starting work a week or so away. I was washing, polishing tinkering with it and out of the corner of my eye I kept catching this bloke peering around the corner of his house looking at me. As we didn't speak I initially continued on and ignored him. Next thing I saw was he'd emerged into full view and was furiously polishing his knob! I ran indoors and had the embarrassing task of telling my mum and step dad about the bloke next door playing with himself.
Step father who was almost 6' 3" and probably about 18 stone went around and hammered on his door but unsurprisingly didn't answer the door.
Do I win?
I had bought my first car and it was living on the drive pending me starting work a week or so away. I was washing, polishing tinkering with it and out of the corner of my eye I kept catching this bloke peering around the corner of his house looking at me. As we didn't speak I initially continued on and ignored him. Next thing I saw was he'd emerged into full view and was furiously polishing his knob! I ran indoors and had the embarrassing task of telling my mum and step dad about the bloke next door playing with himself.
Step father who was almost 6' 3" and probably about 18 stone went around and hammered on his door but unsurprisingly didn't answer the door.
Do I win?
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