Friends

27 May 2019

IT’S THAT CAR AGAIN!


 I feel a bit rotten complaining about the neighbour who has lodged his car on my drive. This last week he attempted to repair my broken doorbell, then visited the shops to purchase a new one … and fixing same. I guess he’s so grateful that I am minding his car for him. 

I raised the problem of my scooter being difficult to manoeuvre with his car there so he came up with the idea of me using a small side gate to avoid the car. The side gate is at the end of another path that leads from all aspects of the drive, in an area that is perfectly flat, unlike the rest of the sloping drive.  He could be right if he was dealing with a young person who was able to bend and stretch.  I tested it, thinking the idea  might work but had forgotten the deep step where the gate is and it wouldn’t take long to ruin clothes on the thorny hedge.

One of the problems about our rubbish collections is that we have to put huge wheelie bins where the rubbish collectors can get at them. One bin is for household refuse, a second one is for garden waste, and the third is stuff that can be recycled. My little side gate is where I keep the garden waste bin because of the weight of it all. I can hardly push the bin when it’s full so I got into the habit of leaving it by the little gate and letting the bin men wheel it out.

If I could manage to ride through the little gateway, I would have to find another way of wheeling the garden rubble debris to a safe place where (a) the bin men can see it and (b) it will be out of the way of passing pedestrians.

What I really need is for a lift that runs from me to heaven and back again.

Finally, the matter is to be resolved. My lovely stepdaughter popped over from Australia and spent the day with me. Her view on the subject of cars and drive space was to stop the neighbour leaving his car on my drive. ‘Don’t worry about his feelings or arguments, tell him straight to shift the car.’ How could I resist such an approach.  So any minute now, I shall hotfoot it over the road and leave a letter she dictated. Goodby problem! Hello peace of mind.

16 comments:

  1. I think you've done well to tolerate it this long. It's a bit of a bloody cheek him telling you to use your side gate rather than move his car!

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    1. I agree with you, Joe. I don't know why I even hesitated. Falling out with neighbours isn't on my scheme of things but in this case I had to take a chance and do what I should have done before.

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  2. Every young person who has ever given an older person advice doesn't always think things through. Their idea sounds easy to them; but some day they will find out that some things are more difficult than they once were. I am learning some of that right now.

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    1. This guy is 80 years of age! Old enough to know better.

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  3. The problem with being nice is people who take advantage of those being nice...time to "nicely" tell him that when it comes to YOUR well being, YOUR drive is more important to be clear for YOU than his convenient parking space. Give him written notice that If you are injured trying to maneuver around his car he will be responsible financially.

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    1. I shall store your advice, Joey, just in case he ignores the already delivered notice to quite. I thought he might have acknowledged my letter with a thank you but perhaps I ask too much of folk.

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  4. Valerie, I love the advice your stepdaughter gave you about simply telling it straight. I mean, it's wonderful that he helped you with the broken doorbell, but I don't feel that that entitles him to just park his car on YOUR PROPERTY. I've become very confrontational about things, because in the past, I was taken advantage of because people always assumed that because I was "nice", I was a pushover. HA! No way!

    Anyway, my friend, I hope goes well with your neighbor and that you get your drive space back.

    Have a faaaaaaaabulous week! X

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    1. Good morning, Ron. Re neighbour, he did ask me nicely if he could park the car on my drive, but omitted to say it would be forever! I can see the guy's drive from my house and noticed that both his cars are there, side by side. I can now use my drive as I want to, which solves the wheelie bin problem.

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  5. Be brave. If he is the nice guy you described, he will gladly concede.

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  6. Its easy to be treated like a doormat. Hope your letter works Valerie. Have you thought of asking the council for smaller wheelie bins?

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    1. A neighbour did enquire about smaller bins but was told the bin had to fit the wagons. It is machinery that picks up a bin, empties it, and returns it to ground level where a man waits to move it from whence it came.

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  7. Yes, I think she is right, if you are pleasant and nice that is the best way to deal with the situation. He is probably a bit concerned about where to put his car I suppose and that might be why he has not acknowledged your letter but that is his problem really not yours.

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    1. Both of his cars are on his drive, side by side, I think his garage is now used as a workroom.

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  8. Yes your daughter is right. Nice man he may be but he is taking too much advantage and needs to move that car. Good luck, I will stay tuned.

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  9. Hi Denise. I am in the process of writing the finale!

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