As I drove home from the night
shift the pundits on the radio were interviewing one of the candidates for the
upcoming election for the position of leader of the Labour party. Lisa Nandy
would seem to be a consummate politician as she spoke eloquently and forcefully
for some time without actually saying anything at all.
Once home I got the dogs onto
their leads. I did have a vague idea to go up to Kings Wood again, but today
there was no frost. With the frost yesterday the mud was frozen. With no frost
today the place would have been a swamp.
We went round the park instead
where we only had one “episode”. Some jogger came past, but rather than jogging, the fellow was
running sideways whilst flapping his arms up and down and puffing like a steam
engine at full thrust. He frightened me; he terrified the dogs.
With walk done I went to bed
where I slept for a while until the dogs had a barking fit at the postman. I
then slept a little longer until nice-next-door went out crashing their gate as they went (they have
got the noisiest gate in the world!!). I dozed off again
only to have someone phone me up to try to sell me something or other.
I eventually gave up trying to
sleep and got up just after mid-day. I had a humungous bowl of granola for
lunch in a shallow attempt to convince myself I was doing healthy eating, then
watched episodes of Schits Creek whilst doing the ironing and wondering about
next door…
We've not had
much luck with our neighbours since we moved into our current house in the
autumn of 1991. When we moved in we had a rather vicious nasty woman and her
hen-pecked weasel of a husband in the house next door (going down the road from us). This was years before the bypass had been built, and (being obsessed with peace and quiet) they were constantly angry that they had moved on to what was then
the busiest street in the town. They also never forgave us for moving into the
house where their friends had once lived, and they made no secret of the fact
that they despised children in general and ours in particular. I can distinctly
remember having to pretend to reprimand "Daddy’s Little
Angel TM" and "My Boy TM" (aged
about six and seven at the time)
for standing in the back garden loudly singing (to the tune of the Australian soap opera “Neighbours”) “Neighbours… we hate the f… ing neighbours”.
After years
of her constantly complaining about trivia they finally moved out and were
replaced with an odd pair who I often refer to as “not-so-nice-next-door”. I honestly believe he is clinically insane; she looks at me like I
am the sh*t on her shoe. Neither have hardly said a word to us since I had a
solicitor write to them over ten years ago when they didn’t seem to realise
that I don’t need their permission to lead my own life.
He hasn't
been seen for over two years, and I am wondering what is going on. I suspect he
might be in a secure mental unit, but I could be wrong. I've asked the police
about him; they assure me he is still alive but refuse to tell me where he is.
The house
going up the road from us is a different matter. No one ever stays there for
any length of time. Over the years, as well as the house being empty for over a
year (twice) there has been in
residence:
- The little old lady who kept herself to herself.
- The mother-in-law of the other neighbours. We got on well with her to the disgust of the other neighbours.
- The drunk Irishman who would play crap music at 2am.
- Two young Australian ladies who would regularly sunbathe in the garden in the nip (I liked them!).
- The Nigerian family who would never pull the blind in their toilet.
- The two young lads who were great fun and who gave me the table my fish tank now stands on.
- The Nigerian fellow who would regularly have a "crafty Joddrell" into the toilet in the evenings; the shadows of which on their bathroom blind were rather entertaining
- The odd couple who tried to blame the flood in their upstairs bathroom on my downstairs washing machine.
- The young family who ran away owning thousands of pounds (we had the debt collectors asking after them for months).
- The people with three dogs each of which was the size of a cart-horse.
- The nice couple who moved round the corner to Francis Road.
- The pair who regularly did noisy sex in the small hours.
- And most recently her who ran the Elwick club
This house is
now up for rent as the current incumbents are moving to take on a pub. When
they moved in I told them that they wouldn't last. They assured me they were
there for keeps, but eighteen months later and they are going. There is
something about that house; no one lasts more than two years in there. Mind
you, I wouldn't want to live next door to me.
And now we
get new neighbours again. I wonder who we will get this time... and how long
they will last?
I was amazed to see that they
are asking for nine hundred pounds per month rental for the house, and that
doesn't include ongoing bills. Nine hundred quid - I've half a mind to move out
and rent out our house!!
The night shift is taking its
toll – I think an early night is in order…
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