Jobs & Education2 mins ago
Neighbours
81 Answers
My friends neighbours are driving her mad. She is a spinster in her 60's, with numerous health problems, her new neighbours have 3 small children who she has tried to get on with, but their parents seem to delight in upsetting her. She has done everything they have asked of her, including replacing fences, having scaffolding on her land so that they can paint house walls. Her main problem is the constant kicking of a football against the new fence, that she could ill afford to replace. A lot of her plants are getting broken with the ball keep coming into her garden, when she asked for some consideration, the mother said she was a muppet, when the little boy asked what a muppet was his mom said an old person who had nothing better to do than complain. I have no idea how to help her and most days she has tears when telling me the next episode. She is very frail and has crohns disease, so all the agro is not helping. Any suggestions would be a help. Thanks
Answers
It sounds like it has gone past buying goal nets, which aren't that cheap. If the mother has called this lady a muppet in front of her children, not even the England's team goal net will smooth the waves.
12:02 Mon 08th Jun 2015
Hi langara, this is the parents responsibility. When my son was young, he was told to keep the ball low, might have had to say it a few times. If it ever went over a garden I would confiscate it off them for that day. Everyone has a right to sit peacefully in their own garden. A parent needs to be consistent. This neighbour doesn't sound very reasonable at all. Your friend needs a person to speak to the council on her behalf of to go with.
If these are pre nursery children they can hardly be kicking a ball very hard and English weather being what it is,not every day. Older children will be a school and also probably have other things to do, preventing them kicking balls for hours on end. If it bothered me that much I'd go down to Argos and buy a cheap goal and give it to the children as a present,saying it would be better to kick the ball into the goal as their ball may get lost or broken if it goes in her garden. Probably too late for that if she's been confrontational with the neighbours, and if she's constantly in tears then maybe something else is going on in her life and this is just tipping the balance.
Jenny....Yes I did live with my mum. She's a wonderful, kind, funny, lovely woman. She has taught me many many things in life, both practicable and fun. Exactly just like yours only she commanded respect from the young ones. I recall one wee fella called her by her first name and she nipped it in the bud - nicely she said my name is Mrs Jenny Joan - he never called her by hir first name ever again. In fact (those days doors were always open) they called in every day to see if she wanted errands (coulda laughed shop ws 2 doors up).
