and a happy Saturday to you, an' all.

[erastes]

You'd think villages were friendly places - they aren't - or at least mine isn't. Possibly it's because I didn't take much effort taking time to join in the villagey things and I was working five days a week and then out and about at the weekend, rather than being at home all the time. I don't know. Anyway - apart from my immediate neighbours who are pleasant and say "hello" I'm ignored by everyone else. I'm not bothered, as generally, as far as I can tell, everyone is ignored by everyone else but I have one particular neighbour who really drives me mad.  I have a big privet hedge encompassing two sides of my garden and the other side of the hedge edges the public footpath along the back of the houses.

I don't have shears, or the physical capability to cut this, and I'm reliant on a gardener who comes about every 2 weeks.

The ONLY time in the entire year that this neighbour speaks to me is when the hedge needs cutting, which is about once a year. Last year they didn't even do that, just shoved an unsigned note through the letter box saying "cut your hedge" but this year is a new low. This morning I had a very nice man call around with his rather damp black Lab from the Parish Council saying they'd had a complaint about the hedge.

I pointed out that 1. It's been pissing with rain for a week, gardeners don't come in the rain.  2. My car is dead and I've been a) unable to get to the bank to get the cash to pay the gardener and b) call into the gardener's house to let him know I need the thing trimming.

I refrained from saying that I knew where the complaint had come from. He was a nice man. with a nice dog.

Sheesh, neighbour, if it's pissing you off so much - trim it yourself!

Comments

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

We could make a britwriters blog about hedge disputes, couldn't we?

[ejab62.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a personal approach! I'm touched!

Not.

Sorry but what an asshole.

[orchard-mnt.livejournal.com]

oh my...I love my little community, southern hospitality hides a world of coldness and disdain...

yeah, I've had the hedge "row" too...my yard is very steep and hard to setup a ladder, and the hedge was way over grown when we bought the place. The adjoining yard is flat as a pancake and that neighbor was the one that HATED the hedge. We asked to set the ladder on his side, and plug the electric trimmer into his outlet so we could shape the hedge downt o a more manageable size. But he refused to allow us access to his yard. Not that that stopped him form complaining about our overgrown hedge. What a jerk...

[angelabenedetti.livejournal.com]

So... your hedge was overgrown by, what, a week or two? And that's enough for this person to be grouching to the authorities? o_O Someone needs to get a life, seriously.

Angie

[orchard-mnt.livejournal.com]

it happens in the good old US of A too

[erastes.livejournal.com]

It's probably a bit more than that, but it's not the end of the world, it's a wide pathway and frankly there's nothing on my deeds saying that I have to maintain it and stop people getting brushed against it.

It's just the rudeness of this person who would only speak to me once a bloody year. Last time she did (which is probably why she doesn't approach me now) I actually stood there and said "Blimey, is it that time of the year already? It only seems a year since the last time you spoke to me."

She went, "What?" and then stomped off.

Grrr.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes - It's a bloody shame Napoleon didn't invade, because there are Napoleonic laws on hedges over there. Don't tell Geoffrey's father.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Totally.

[angelabenedetti.livejournal.com]

LOL! Well, that's better, I suppose. :D

Still, so long as there's room to walk, I don't see that it's a huge deal. Mind you, I get annoyed when people don't trim their plants, but only if I have to turn sideways and scoot down the sidewalk, or if it's their trees dangling down and I have to bend double to walk underneath. (I'm 5'11" and some little short person trimming the trees "enough" often leaves them still too low for me to walk under comfortably, and that's annoying.) If it's not actually blocking the path, though, then I don't get what this person's issue is. It still sounds like she needs something significant to occupy her, to keep her mind from getting stuck on trivialities.

Angie

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's great isn't it? A woman, living alone, and you think someone (especially if they had a problem with it) would say "Hey - how about you pay me xxxx and I cut it?"

Such nice neighbours I have.

[orchard-mnt.livejournal.com]

hahaha...best of luck

pivots look so weedy when left alone..

[tigerblak.livejournal.com]

It happens here in the USA, but for us its the HOA (Home Owners Association). I would be really tempted to go out and trim them, and then drop the clippings in the neighbors yard.

[liebesdammerung.livejournal.com]

I don't entirely see why your hedges are their business, but I suppose it's just small-town mentality on their part. You are the only person in the way of them making their very own Stepford Wives! Lol.

[semioticwarrior.livejournal.com]

The local government actually investigates complaints about untrimmed hedges?

::boggle::

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

I had that problem with the neighbor across the street before I was hospitalized.

Him: I noticed that you're not raking your lawn or trimming your bushes.

Me: No.

Him: Why?

Me: *significant look at my red, swollen legs*

Him: Well, I just thought you should know before the town notices that your bushes are overgrowing the sidewalk.

Me: What happens if the government notices the bushes are sticking out over the sidewalk? Do I have to pay a fine or something?

Him: Oh, no, no, they'll cut them for you.

Me: That sounds good. I mean, I can't do it and I can't afford to pay anyone else to do it, so I might as well let the town do it for free.

Him: *gives me a look of total incomprehension*

***

Unreal, innit?

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I shouldn't laugh but oh god YES!

This man said "I thought I'd better try the friendly approach other than..."

I felt like saying - "What? You'll set the parish council on me?"

*rolls eyes*

[iulia_linnea.livejournal.com]

Well, at least the jackass only troubles you once a year. *sends hot, half-naked gardener*

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Now, that's what I really need. My back garden is only about 30 feet by 30 feet but it's a jungle.

[iulia_linnea.livejournal.com]

In that case, I'll send along Hot, Half-Naked Gardener's friends, as well. ;)

[crawling-angel.livejournal.com]

I'd love to see his face when you offer him the chance to trim your bush!

*squark*

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Erastes with the perfect quip, FTW! \0/
But srsly, if the hedge isn't blocking the pathway, and isn't in the way of folks using wheelchairs or walkers or such, then WTF?
I know some folks who enjoy the sensation of doing things like that. They whip themselves up in a righteous froth and go spouting off to other folks and just really enjoy themselves by getting all downright on some topic that may or may not have any bearing on the real world. Some people just enjoy that feeling of righteous outrage, and hunt down excuses to have it.
Which is why I have the suspicion that person isn't making themselves popular with their other neighbors, either.
In a more useful story context, I suspect a lot of the absurd rhetoric you hear in homophobic ranting comes from the same source.

[aunty_marion]

Why don't you slip an anonymous note through her door, saying "There's £5 in it for you if you trim the hedge at No.32" (or whatever your house number is)? You can then, of course, deny all knowledge of it if she asks, and get your hedge trimmed for free! (Well, probably not. But one could hope!)

[enolabloodygay.livejournal.com]

Tell the sad feckers that you are doing your bit for the environment by providing a wildlife haven. Green is the in thing, dontcha know?

I have neighbours, for the first time in five years. I went away for the weekend, they put up 6' fence panels that block the light to my kitchen.Was it something I said? Still at least it stops Mrs Skank stubbing her fag out on MY wall, then chucking it in MY garden. I may report them to their landlord for smoking in a non-smoking house.

Or I might just rise above it, shrug my shoulders and say 'Live and let live' - as your neighbours should.

Blow raspberries at them through the wall - ineffective, but satisfying, I find!

[mzcalypso.livejournal.com]

Write the parish council, lay it on heavy that you know you haven't had time to become part of the community because you were working your fingers to the bone, you have been fired for your physical problems (which, by the way, keep you from trimming the hedge) and ask that the Council restrain your cruel neighbors (yes, they are) from harrassing you--or ask if there's anyone willing to do the job for the pittance you can afford.

With any luck you'll shame the bastards into offering a hand--love thy neighbor, isn't that the motto?

8-P phffffft!! to them!

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

Small towns are like tiny fandoms--they have their own heirarchies and unwritten rules and god(dess)help you if you don't kiss and diss according to local custom. And unless your grandparents were born there, you will never really be a part of the community. I don't like most huge cities but I'd hate to live in a really small town. (No doubt there are many lovely small towns that aren't like that, but I've never run into one.)

You can always write the nasty neighbors their just desserts...