I have lovely neighbours...MM

I have a neighbour living across the road whose personal grooming isn't everything it could be.

I have one neighbour who is the same when it comes to things growing over the fence, and he whines about every twig that dares cross his territory

you know what, instead of getting into a neighbour war, I just put up some fence extensions which sends the soft new growth upward a bit more and blocks him out, and Im just really apologetic and nice to him when I do see him. I cant keep him happy because I cant stop every little twig from growing over the fence, but at least now he makes his statement by pruning the stuff off with a saw and dumping it over to my side of the fence, he used to just snap the branches and killed one of my trees in the past from the constant damage, so I call that progress. :)

Just try to be nice to her is all I can suggest, if you get into a tit a for tat it will only get worse.

I know how annoying that sort of thing can be, but you have to hang on to your dignity and be the 'better person'. I'm sure you feel like jumping the fence and strangling the old biddy. I have a feeling she is probably lonely and has no life and is turning to this sort of behaviour out of some sort of frustration. Don't let it beat you!
Good luck,
Dee.

I know it's hard to turn the other cheek, but at least you can walk tall and proud when you see your neighbours.
we have had problems with one of our neighbours for years, sprinklers coming through our windows, a car stereo playing 2m from our window at midnight. we even got told to lock our dogs up when they chased their cat, IN OUR FENCED YARD?!
The latest is that they are selling their house (yippee) but our carport is an "eyesore" (their words) and is affecting the sale price! apparently we are being unreasonable by choosing our new fourwheel drive over their hip pocket, but as I said, I can walk tall knowing that I am not that sort of person

Dee hit the nail on the head...maintain your dignity, thats what is important. People can be very unreasonable, feel sorry for them, they are having a rough time in their life. Blame is a reaction for unhappiness.

I live on acres, so all my neighbours are a long way away. Despite that the neighbour across the valley had those aweful trail bikes, you know the noise ! This reverbirated across the valley...man up one end got up a petition, everyone signed it noise stopped. Peace and quiet now.

I can hear the birds again.

Ree Ree, sprinkler coming through the window, thats aweful .

Well we have very nice neighbours, too. But on one side, they have no interest in plants and hence do not *notice* when their running bamboo takes off each year (after they have each year declared they will get rid of it) and it invades my yard. I just cut it back, poison it, and go over their side when they are out, and do the same. Nor do they notice when other ferals that they inherited when they moved here ("we love the green") start overhanging my yard by metres or their crappy palms drop tons of smelly fruit all over my path and roof. I could say a lot, but I lead by example and when I get out there and rake and tidy, sometimes I get a bit of positive reaction and a few things are cut down and taken away. The nicest thing, and the reason I bite my tongue, is that when their rubbish is taken away, they offer to take all mine, too, including things like a rusted out hot-water tank that I would have had NO WAY of getting rid of. Nice neighbours.
Now the neighbours 2 away are another matter. They have 3 little boys and they like to keep them "interested" to be at home. First it was a drum set now it is a skate-board ramp in the backyard. It goes on for hours, I'm almost thankful the bl**dy traffic noise is so bad this time of day that it drowns them out. Sheesh where do you go, we were thinking of the sunshine coast LOL. Maybe I'd better just buy some more blackberry killer and some better ear-plugs, and stay put.

Why not pick a bunch of your flowers and take it to her? She might appreciate the kindness and not mind so much about other things.I have felt for a long time that people who complain about small things usually have very 'small' lives (you know, very few interests, few friends etc). So, for them the small issues tend to become big. On the other hand, when I feel really stressed, the little things assume major importance. Flowers always help then, too.

My neighbour has advanced alzheimers, so it really doesn't matter what we do, she can't remember anyhow. Her husband is too busy trying to care for her, so he wouldn't care if we danced naked on his front steps nightly.
The worst they do to us is have her ask me over the fence several times a day what our pretty doggy is called.
Somewhat puts it all in perspective me thinks.

Luckily all our neighbours, except for one nosy one across the road, are great. Nosy actually put his house up for sale on Thursday. Here's hoping they sell soon and new neighbours are better. Knowing my luck they will be worse. I do prefer Nosy to other neighbours we lived next to before we moved here (the reason we moved). Besides the trailbike up and down the fence, there was the 3 day non-stop parties - the worst one was the loud music which never stopped from Friday morning, while they were setting up, until late Sunday night. To make it worse they played the macarena about 7 times in a row about midnight. I had a 3mth baby at the time. Friends of ours who lived 2kms away could hear the music!

I took my nosey neighbour to court several times and they sold up.Nothing else legal would work
Fred

Paradisi,
I must commend you on your restraint.
I have wonderful neighbors and would be absolutely beside myself if I had a neighbor like yours.
I don't even know if the personal approach would work.Do you keep a diary of her complaints.It might be an idea because if you have to take her to court or if she initiates the action it will be handy.
I wonder if she is starting down the dementia road.My dad got really funny about the strangest things before he was diagnosed.Maybe the old "biddy" lady is just lonely and really just needs intelligent interaction with people.
I would be inclined to call on her (politely of course and perhaps with a witness) just to see if there is some sort of common ground you can exist on.
Best of luck.
sarah

All you can do is try to keep your plants in your yard. If you are being reasonable neighbours she has no grounds for complaint and it is just malicious trouble making. I do think what music you play during the day is your business and I dont think it is reasonable to expect anyone to live by another individuals rules AND KEEP THAT DIARY. It will make all the difference if there is more trouble and if you dont no one will take you seriously. Have you been neighbours for long? Does she need to turn her hearing aid down/off. Has she caused trouble with other neighbours? If she is a serial complainer Im sure the police will soon realise. In Queensland you can get a copy of the environmental laws for noise and Im sure the police dont normally deal with complaints (certainly not in the middle of the day -maybe after 11.30 at night) I wonder how she would feel if a serious crime was committed while the police were dealing with her pifling complaints. I do sympathise with you-I think that the least attention she gets from her complaints the sooner she will lay off. Be nice to her but if she complains just tell her the facts and point out that not everyone choses to live their life like her but that doesnt mean she has the right to interfere in what they do on their own property.

Hi All,

Aaaah, neighbours - arent they wonderful ? In the majority of cases, its just that we are too damned close to one another (a big thanks to the developers), but the 'trail bikes ruining idyllic acreage living' post reinforces the fact that, for mine, its symptomtic of a much larger problem - we just dont give a stuff about anyone else any more. I moved to a quieter street to escape traffic noise, but now find myself hemmed in by a variety of nuisances, from the screeching children in one yard to the nosy parker in another, but the answer is simple - grow the largest hedges you can. It takes time, but nothing says 'mind your own business' better than 4 metres of thick lillypilly :)

Cheers,

Artie

I can't BELIEVE that the police would take a serious interest in a complaint about gospel music played a little loud during the afternoon. I would be seriously investing in some heavy metal CD's and a sub woofer if I was you.

sometimes we need to look in the mirror ,at the person looking back at you ,because we could one day be the neighbour we are complaining about.i have just got a new young couple next door with children ages 4-7 yrs .it's a joy to hear their laughter even though the parents who are lovely can be inconsiderate at times 2am etc; which is when they decide to bring in the garbage bins
but they speak to their children at all times with love understanding and the children reply the same .SO MUCH FOR THE COMPLAINTS of the younger generation , their little daughter heard her mother say that I had been sick so this little 4yr old voice called out" keep well glory" I love my garden but that out weighted any flower I could grow it's called loving your neighbour .I know it's hard I had some beauties too but life is but a blink of an eye let's live it together in peace cheers Glory