Editor:
Like most of our neighbors we were pleased to learn of the impending arrival of a new arrival to our half acre of suburban heaven, a neighborhood known for its rose gardens, low rock walls and picket fences, most of us eager to find out who had just paid cash for the “little house on the corner” and hoping he or she would fit in nicely.
Boy were we wrong.
About a week after the moving van had arrived we could see that the house had been “sealed up tight” with coverings on all the windows – a departure from the inviting, open feeling of the prior owners, who brought snacks around when introducing themselves to the neighbors. “Maybe they’re just private people” we told ourselves during our back fence conversations, but a week after that the new owner reached out to us – we thought to introduce himself to the neighborhood – but actually to invite himself into our homes to have a look around.
Things got off to a bad start when the interloper began to check out the sight lines from our windows to his shuttered castle, looking at us accusingly and saying things like “You can see into my bedroom” or “This isn’t going to work, I’m a really private person.”
Telling him that we did not consider peering into his living areas a valuable use of our time didn’t seem to appease him. Soon our new neighbor advised us of his plan to build a “solid” 6-foot-tall fence around his entire property and, after a neighbor and skilled cartoonist taped a caricature of him building a Trump-like border wall around his home to his mailbox we were promptly advised of his plans to make it a 7-foot-tall fence, a move that would dramatically impact the sight lines of our little house.
Needless to say the neighborhood is abuzz and wondering if we’ve got a serial killer in our midst and if we’ll be treated to late night sawing sounds and occasional screaming. OK maybe not that bad but you understand.
Anyway – submitted as another tale from the neighborhood, a beat your guys cover well. We’ll keep you updated on developments.
Sincerely,
Marcia Hammond/Concord
Yipes! Yes, we could see how that would upset the ‘hood. Let us know how things turn out!
Oooooh! The cartoon might have been a bad idea for very uptight neighbors. You might rescue this by inviting them over for some marijuana brownies to chill the situation. That might even be legal now, just don’t forget to mention the contents as a legal disclaimer. If that fails, construct a small, cheap bird watching tower with a platform at 7 feet. A lot cheaper than a 7′ fence. And an 8 foot platform is cheaper than an 8 foot fence. Then offer to pay 10% of the cost of a lovely 3 foot white picket fence if there is none there currently.
You have to ask why they would want to move into such a neighborhood to begin with. Why not get some land and wall it off if that’s what you want?
Could be worse – dude could like to work on his Harley at 12 in the morning like mine!!!
He’s not all there. Kill him with kindness or ignore him.
Just pray he’s not a lawyer. We ran into one of those in the city and it was not fun. There’s a picture of him in the dictionary next to vexatious litigant. Guy wasn’t happy unless everyone around him was miserable.
You seem to be the rude one in this story. Just because the new neighbor isn’t doing what you want, he is now dubbed a serial killer and is likened to Trump. Wow! It seems like a terrible ‘neighborhood’ and I feel very sorry for this individual. I hope you can stop acting judgmental and entitled, and actually welcome this person. Or at least leave him alone.