I'm nearing the end of my course. I hand in my written report later this month. Inevitably some parts of,my life have gone on a backburner. My home resembles a rubbish tip, and my garden is untidy. I'm looking forward to being finished and getting in a few tradesmen for some minor repairs that need tackling, and then getting it all straightened out.
On Saturday evening something I ate disagreed with me. I was violently sick. I managed to block up my pipes - oh dear. I was up at odd times during the night trying to get it all clear. Shoved Mr Muscle down it. Got it unblocked but it was very slow running.
Anyway I had a knock on my door on Sunday morning. Neighbour to complain about my garden. Threatened to inform the council about me.
I have told her it will be cleared up very soon when I have more time after my course has finished. But she's still belligerent and bullish. Everybody else manages so why don't I? Mentions my 91 year old neighbour. I like my old neighbour - but she does NOT manage her garden, she's too frail. She badgers her retired son to come over and do it for her. Most of my neighbours have family who help them. Sons, daughters etc. I'm the only one completely on my own. I tried repeatedly to get a gardener to keep it ticking over while I was studying - but I couldn't find anyone who was honest - let alone competent and hard-working. Last one I employed overcharged me and was bone-idle.
And then there have been the cowboys knocking on the door. I never told you about the one called last summer, promising to mend the urgent hole in my roof and "sort my garden". Took 2 goes to get rid off the blighter - and the references he gave me were false. I was so furious I was doing my Rumpelstiltskin imitation, jumping up and down. I'm not employing a crook, no way. I'd use a nailfile to do my garden before I take on another cowboy.
So the neighbour and I did not see eye to eye. Although my garden has weeds, it is NOT a health hazard. There's no mattresses, no unwanted food, no access problem, no vermin, no rubbish that needs disposing off. Nothing that the council would really be interested in, particularly as I've promised it's going to be tidied soon.
I go out to the shops round the corner to get some more Mr Muscle to get this sink cleared. I come round the corner and I see someone in my garden. Bear in mind that I've had burglars and I've had to chase a few criminals. So I get a bit of a shock. Then I get closer and see it's my neighbour trying to cut back a few weeds - she just leaves them lying on the ground. She says she's trying to help me - hmm. I shove Mr Muscle down my pipes and join her for a few minutes. She says the fresh air will be good for the nausea. In fact it's blisteringly hot and even with a sunhat on I'm soon feeling even worse.
She leaves to go back to her family and I call it a day.
My Indian neighbours were a problem for me at one time, but I tried to be a good neighbour and be helpful and considerate. I could never do what this woman has done. Issuing threats indeed. What's wrong with a polite enquiry? I'd have been happy to let her into my garden if she had had the courtesy to ask me politely first. Or if any of my neighbours had been able to recommend someone I'd have been okay about giving him a lookover - recommendation only. Some people prefer to be disagreeable.
I had a good moan to my GP about it when he took my blood pressure earlier today. Surprisingly it's gone down slightly!!! He says I have to prioritise, and the garden can wait. He knows I've had cowboys. Nice man!!!! It felt soooo good to unload for a couple of minutes. He said I should just have sent her packing. I told him I thought I was quite a brave person, going back to uni, after all my hard times when I was so seriously ill in the 90s. He smiled approvingly.
What a cheeky woman this is.
/act looks at her Christmas card list and wonders
Disagreeable neighbour
Northener, I can't imagine anyone doing such a thing, if anything you could complain to the authorities that someone entered your property without your permission. Americans are famous for suing such persons! lol but true. Please try not to be too upset, rude people are every where, just keep your cool and tell her to go where mephistopheles resides!
Please think about your health, what can be more important?
Hugs, Maria
Then again, why not let her cut the weeds down since they seem to bother her so much, as long as she can tell a flower from a weed. (Hmmm, you need some of our poison ivy over there!!! LOL.) Your studies come first and besides in another few months when fall and winter come, it won't make a bit of difference on how the yard looks! At least your blood pressure is down, that certainly is a good thing right now. Your health is more important and it seems you are stretching yourself pretty thin. Take care
Thank you both. I've lost a lot of time this spring going on these health walks, when I could have been working on my studies and finishing earlier. Or working in my garden!
I'll probably try and go outside later this week when I've finished at uni and had my tea. But there's less than an hour before it gets dark. I HAVE rung up a gardener in the phone directory to see if he can cut back the large lawn for me to make it easier for me. He wasn't in though. I think this man is probably respectable. There's other names in the directory but they may be cowboys - an entry in the phone book is no guarantee of honesty.
Of course, I can't go out in the rain. And today's it's pouring down.
Oh dear Northerner, I'm so sorry to hear about you being ill. I hope you're feeling better now. I've had a similar problem with one of my neighbours over the last few days. The woman who lives at the back of us confronted me over 'my' frogs going into 'her' garden the other day. When I told her that frogs are natural wildlife and everywhere she begame quite beligerent and said that they were coming from 'my' pond. I then said to her that there's also a hedgehog who comes into the gardens...I won't tell you what she said about that!!
Poor, sad people, who dislike life itself.
Terri1948
Thank you Terri. I am actually quite sorry that my garden is causing her offence. I'm really a keen gardener but overwhelmed at the moment by the demands of my course. I'm on countdown now with my course, finishing stages.
I have had some bad health problems on this course. At one stage I developed glaucoma, then I had a bad reaction to a change in prescription that a GP did. I have had a couple of bouts of bronchitis and a bout of chickenpox too!! Lastly I developed high blood pressure. I've ended up taking far longer on this course than I had orginally intended.
I had tried to employ a jobbing gardener to keep it under control for a year or so, to let me concentrate on my studies. But I've had some bad experiences with so-called landscape gardeners. My garden's been wrecked by them. The last one I had wasn't a cowboy, strictly speaking, but he was lazy, dishonest and overcharged me. So I let him go. I've been unsuccessful in finding anyone who is honest.
Once my course is finished I will tidy it all up. Not long to wait, but she's too impatient. Sigh.
It's very difficult for a single woman living on her own to get an honest tradesman.
I've had frogs occasionally too! I think my next-door neighbour must have a small barrel that she uses as a pond. So, sometimes I see them hopping about in my back garden!
We have a huge pond with a dam. The wild life around there is incredible
Canada Geese, all kinds of ducks, Green and blue herons, snapping turtles, frogs and more frogs, foxes, deer, hawks and many others I can't think of right now, the flora around the water is also interesting since it won't grow any where else. We are fortunate to have neighbors who love all that , not to mention how much the children learn from this as their parents teaches them about life in the woods and Pond but they also know the danger of the snapping tutles, they could easally snap a little ones leg or arm. Still, they go fishing and having lots of fun.
I always wonder why some people out there do not appreciate nature in its natural habitat..
Maria
Terri, looks like you could use one of Marias snapping turles to visit your unfriendly neighbor!
Sincerely Northerner, could you try asking your neighbor if perhaps SHE can help you find someone to help in the yard since it bothers her so much?
Terrific Idea, TJM, I would like to know what the 'nice lady' has to say?
Maria
Great idea Doris. But I don't think she'd be up for it. My neighbours are generally not very helpful. Too busy mainly probably though there's quite a lot who are retired. I'm very worried about simply taking on someone grabbed from the phone book. Experience has shown that they're often not very competent and are often lazy and greedy. A single woman is like a honeypot to them! I prefer to take someone on personal recommendation but haven't been able to find anyone suitable.
I may take on someone for a one-off job to mow the lawns a good cut once I've finished. And possibly another couple of times after that to allow me to catch up on the borders. I'll need to cut back some shrubs a little first though. It's just time that's the problem at present. I don't have enough of it!
It sounds like a difficult situation. Maybe you are just better off finishing you studies and let the yard go til then. If your neighbor is the only one complaining, then don't worry., she will just have to put up with it til you can handle it. If she reports you to the city and they contact you, then ask if they can recommend an honest person that can do the work since you have been unable to do it at this moment because of your studies. Could you not call the city or town and ask if they could let you know where you could hire someone to do your yardwork?
Nice idea Doris. But our councils don't keep records of suitable gardeners. If they did, I wouldn't have had a cowboy!
Too bad! My township that my village is in, has a booklet where they list businesses and handymen who will charge a reasonable rate (or discounts) for older people and those that live alone. You could really use something like that in your town.
We certainly could Doris!!!!