My Crazy Neighbours – An Interesting Experience

During my life time I have lived in many different locations, from Hamilton, New Zealand and the Island of Tonga to Yorkshire and Lancashire. In a few weeks we will be moving once more, to settle permanently with my parents.

I have to say one thing I am looking forward to is leaving our neighbours. Seriously, I have never had such a crazy experience when it comes to neighbours and I do think that is due to living on a lower social economic street where many of the homes are rented by the local counsel.

Neighbour Playing Music too Loud

When I talk about crazy neighbours, I am not referring to mental health issues, or crazy in the sense of someone with manic depression or another serious health condition. I am talking about crazy as in – neighbours who are rude and just don’t follow the regular social rules.

For example the neighbour on my right plays music which can be so loud, you just can’t think straight. It’s worse on his days off and has been very difficult during lock down. Not only do we have to listen to the beats of rave and party music, we have to hear him singing the same song over and over as he plays his guitar and sings out of tune. Seriously it’s terrible.

So how have we dealt with this? We have tried our best to cope on the days when the music is just booming in our ears and I purchased silencing ear phones which helps somewhat. We have asked politely that our neighbour turns the music down especially at night and when our child has been trying to study via remote learning. Our daughter is not the only child on the street studying and I’m sure the loud music impacts many of us.

Neighbour Smoking Drugs

At our old house we had a neighbour who regularly dealt drugs. He would have people knocking on the door constantly day and night and we would often feel a little intimidated and afraid as the “types” of people visiting could at times look scary or be agitated. We managed to deal with this and stick to ourselves, however in the current home we live in our Neighbour is not a drug dealer. He is simply a drug user and that to me is worse.

Every pay day or benefit day, our neighbour lights up and the stench of illegal drugs comes through the walls into our bedroom. Have we reported this? Yes many times but due to lockdown the council can’t do much about it. The Police have from time to time visited, and dispersed the crowds, as our neighbour usually smokes with friends but the smell of cannabis has wreaked havoc in our home giving us breathing issues, stinging our eyes and giving the whole family headaches.

Yes we have reported the drug use every time and eventually the council will be taking an order out but for us it will be too late. We have lived with this difficulty for over a year and quite frankly I’m glad we are moving away.

Neighbour Entering Our House Without Permission

Now one thing I have learnt to do on my estate is lock the doors! I have a neighbour who seems to think it’s okay to pop into the house whenever she likes. Now I have to admit this woman does have behaviour problems. She is in her 50’s and acts very much like a child. I do think this particular neighbour may have a personality disorder and that she seriously needs some kind of behaviour therapy or help.

Our female neighbour from across the road will try our door and just walk in if it is open. She will take our dog and then tell us he wondered outside or do other strange attention seeking behaviours. Whilst she is quite harmless, I do think therapy or online counselling through a service like BetterHelp would really help our neighbour to learn more about boundaries and what is and is not appropriate.

Either way, I am once again happy we are moving away and won’t have to deal with strange and unsocial behaviour….and yes..that includes seeing a couple running down the street chasing one another, stark naked with no clothes on! Seriously our street is like a awful soap opera that I am looking forward to turning off.

New Horizons

Moving in with my parents is going to come with challenges. We will need to adapt and be tolerant of our differences but it will be so much easier than living on this crazy street. In fact, I know my parents street. It is a busy main road and the neighbours are lovely. We are not going to have to deal with loud music, drug dealing or someone who doesn’t understand normal social boundaries. It will be nice to have some peace at long last and I am really looking forward to that.