Last year, we bought a small cottage in the countryside. We wanted some peace and quiet. Most of the houses here have been snapped up already.
Straight away, a neighbour caught our attention. She looked to be about sixty-five. At first, I took her excessive interest in good strideolder people are often like that, curious about everything. Whenever we had guests or builders over, she would immediately come out, sit on the bench by her gate, and keep an eye on things. She watched every car that came near our drive and seemed to monitor our every move. For the first month after we moved in, she gave us smiles and polite hellos.
But then, our first conflict occurred when our wardrobe was delivered. The delivery lorry accidentally reversed into her garden fence. She rushed outside and began shouting. My husband apologised on the spot; nobody meant any harm. We repaired the fence that same day. I even brought her a box of cherries and apples as a goodwill gesture. Looking back, I actually regret that. I think she realised then that we wanted to avoid any drama and were eager to keep the peace. That was our biggest mistake.
Three days later, she called me over to her house. Outraged, she claimed we were ruining the road outside her home with all our delivery lorries. I kept quiet. After all, the farm down the lane has tractors and lorries passing through several times a day. She insisted we were making a dreadful racket with all the work going on, and that shed calculate the total damage by the evening. She told us we ought to come and see the road and the fence for ourselves.
The next morning, a man turned up at our door. It was her son-in-law. He said wed supposedly damaged his mother-in-laws property and would need to pay up.
I find these accusations completely unreasonable. After all, wed already repaired the fence on the same day, and the state of the road really isnt down to us.
Meanwhile, another neighbour had been watching this drama unfold the whole time. Later, she told us shed also had unpleasant run-ins with this same woman. Apparently, we werent the first people this neighbour had tried to get money from. The other neighbour had found herself in a similar predicament. It turns out the woman likes to weigh up what she can get from someone and then acts accordingly.
In fact, her garden actually stretches two metres wider than her property deeds show. So, the only thing keeping her in line is the threat of reporting her for land grabbing. Theres no other option.
Have any of you ever had conflicts with neighbours? If so, what were they about?
