Out With The Old . . .

The first new neighbour was a friendly single mom
from some Nordic country . . . I never did find out
which one. She was OK. Her live-in boyfriend
was obsessively jealous though, and would
become belligerent if she talked to another male.
If she said "hi" to you, he'd come rushing out,
all alpha-male.

They had a habit of leaving the curtains open and having
sex in the living room (on the weekends when her ex
had the kids). Hey, whatever . . . I'm an insomniac and
my computer desk was set up next to my front window
long BEFORE they moved in, so I didn't feel as though
I was intruding or anything.

She dumped that guy, moved another boyfriend in, got
pregnant, and then she sold the house for $50k more than
she paid for it - all in less than one year. Up go the
property values.

The old guy across the street . . . I miss him . . . he used to
like playing with his snowblower, and would often have
all the heavy stuff the plows left in the driveways moved
before any of us even had our boots on. WHY did he have
to move?? Anyway, he was replaced by a guy who is nice
enough, except : he installed his stereo system in the GARAGE,
not the house. And when he wants to hear something, he
goes out to the garage, opens the overhead door, CRANKS
the stereo and the GOES BACK INTO THE HOUSE.
What the hell is that??? On weekends the music (reggae, rap or
hip-hop) starts around 8:30 a.m. or so.

The third house was originally occupied by a retired guy
who was obsessed with gardening. The front of his house,
the side yard, the back yard . . . all flowers, all well-groomed.
He was out there from dusk 'til dawn, it seemed. He'd stop
toiling to chat if you were out for a walk, but then he'd be
back at it as soon as the conversation ended. He certainly did
a great job at it. But, like the others, he saw an opportunity to
cash in when we fixed up our house.

The day the new guy moved in, there were seven vehicles out
there, in addition to the moving van (the house has a four-car
driveway, plus a one-car garage). The extra cars were parked
across the street on MY lawn. I figured, what the hell, they're
moving in, it's probably just friends helping and they'll be
cleared out later. Why hassle them?

Morning comes. There are still two cars parked on my lawn.
Hmm. I don't know. Maybe someone that helped stayed
overnight? Don't panic . . .

A week passes. OK. They bought a house with parking for 5,
but they own seven vehicles. They looked at the house, looked
across the street, and said to themselves, "WE' LL JUST PARK
ON THAT GUY'S YARD!". Nice. Well, on some level, they
had to have made that decision, right?

So, one day, I went out there and let them know. They stopped
parking on my yard, but one of their friends kept doing it every
time he visited them. If I was outside, he'd even pull up, park,
give me a snotty look, and go in the house.

Hey!

A couple of weeks ago Boston's Mayor Menino ordered the trash
collectors to pick up all the chairs people had put out to "save"
their shoveled spaces - maybe I could request they dump them
in my front yard !!!!