Tim R. Writes:

My wife and I were in a neighborhood that we help put together. We had three different friends all buy in the same cul-de-sac. We thought it would be great, boy were we wrong. The next door neighbor to me had a little black lab mix that was never on a leash and would attach my 100 lb golden every chance it got. I would say in 4 years there were ay least 15 dog fights. I would have to kick the dog in the face for him to run away. Every time you go to the door to confront them it would go unanswered. The dog went on the bite 2 children and an adult before he was sent away. Confront them later they would say raven does not do that. That was the easy of problem…. the “friends” we brought with us starting thinking swapping wives and thinking getting really drunk was a good idea, when my wife and I were not ready to swap so we were ignored in the neighborhood. For 18 months no one would speak to us, guess what we moved out and sold our house to two women who love each other. Also the exploding property value in the Metro Washington area double the value of our house, so we moved south and love our new neighbors …but not that much.

I can agree with you there, when I finally sold that house in Toronto I made a killing thanks to soaring property values.

Just to refresh everyones memory: I left the "hell" neighbours behind over three years ago and this blog is still kicks to life every now and then. My current neighbours are both great. On one side I have a nice family with two kids about 8 and 12 years old. They are a pretty normal family. They are up before dawn taking the boy to hockey practice, they BBQ nearly every day in the summer, and the first thing they did when I moved in was invite me over for a beer. On the other side is another family, kids a bit older (one in University the other in High School), but also very normal. Other then the kids having wild parties when the parents go out of town they are very quiet. I don't even mind the parties, and was going to crash the last one but the cops showed up before made it over (some other neighbour called, I was pissed because it wasn't even that loud, not worthy of a complaint at it was only 11pm). The best part was a lot of the kids at the party were underage and when the police showed up at the front door those in the backyard tossed their beer over the fence. I recovered an assorted variety of canned and bottled beer the next morning, most of which were unopened.

Henpawson writes:

I live in a manufactured home that is in a park in the county. Those of us who have been here for a long time know this park was set up as a commune back in the 60's. The conditions have rarely changed during that time. The landscaping is the same as it was 30 years ago only larger. Some of us like it just the way it is, thats why we moved here.

I have a large yard that I have worked very hard to keep landscaped I have removed blackberrys, kept a canopy of trees trimmed to keep the heat down and the shade up. I have in the past been able to spend time in my back yard in privacy no matter what I was doing. I have grapes that grow around the parimiter of my yard and I have never been one to keep others from sharing within reason.

About 6 years ago a family moved in across the street from me and proceeded to harass me. From day one they threw rocks at my pets in my yard. They sat on their porch and yelled cat calls at my teenage daughter. They had mashed potatoe fights over my car in my driveway which did damage to my paint job. I had to deal with their son taking a leak on my flower bed and then I caught them breaking into my yard to steel buckets full of my grapes. I could say that was all but that was only the beginning.

The landlord told me he would deal with it and told them I was just being stingy and to ignore me. The police, who dont want anything to do with our park because of the location, told me I was being a hysterical old woman and should not bother them. Then the landlord who got fired for embezzeling petty cash sold them his house which was right next door to me. Since then they have been cutting down my plants, pouring poison on the trees, throwing stuff at my house and at me. I have no privacy I have no place to seek help and because I am disabled and unable to hold down a full time job I cant get enough money to move. The agencies tell me I am not at the top of their priority list and the lawyers say I can have their help when I get a full time job and can pay them.

Maybe I need to get a tan and then I can get help. Oh did I mention they are immigrants? Yes they are the right color and I am the wrong color not to mention the wrong sex the wrong age and the wrong religion. I just the reason everything is wrong with the world.

Georgia B. writes:

I went to your site and cannot believe how critical you are. why are you paying so much attention to your neighbor anyway? he probably doesn't even care what you're doing so why do you care so much about what he's up to? I'm glad I don't have you as a neighbor - you seem to have way too much time on your hands. leave your neighbor alone and mind your own business.

Well Georgia, I suppose I am critical. But then again I had a neighbour who left rotting garbage out on his front lawn, used his backyard as a toilet, and decided to pave his lawn instead of mowing it. One more thing... go take a flying flip off a rolling donut! Not sure what the hell that is supposed to mean but at least I didn't use foul language.

I also havn't lived at that house in 3 years and have not updated this site in over 6 months but still get some traffic. Nothing you post online ever really disappears I suppose.

If anybody cares about my active blog check out...

http://spaces.msn.com/members/ca1v1n

I promise I am not at all critical...

Mike from the East Bay Express is looking for stories from people in the Bay Area. I've pasted his email below. Hey Mike, I know I'm in Canada now but did I mention I grew up in Danville? I attended Monta Vista HS back in the early 80's... Go Mustangs!

Dear Calvin,I know you just recently received a letter from a UK television station, so this sudden media attention might seem kind of strange... I'm a reporter in the San Francisco bay area writing a story about bad neighbors and how to deal (or not deal) with them. I don't know if any of your contributors are from the bay area, but I wanted to ask if you'd be so so kind as to post this message asking for help. If there are any people from the bay (especially the east bay) who'd be up for sharing their bad neighbor stories, please contact me at Great.Brain@mailcity.com.

Thanks for your help,
Mike RosenEast Bay Express

Stacey writes...

I found your blog by typing in a google search of "I hate my loud neighbors". I'm happy I found a place to vent!!I live in a three-story apartment building. Recently, new neighbors have moved in upstairs.The first thing they did was redo the wood floors. They had some kind of grinding/sanding machine that they used for hours every day for about 5 days straight. I work late nights and I need to nap before my shift. Ha! Not that week! Then, when they were finally done, the woman who lives up there vaccumed and cleaned and unpacked for a week straight. I thought it would be over then, but no, they are always loud. She tramps around in clogs, banging and clomping for hours everyday. I don't know if she's fat or she just walks like an idiot, but she NEVER sits down and she sounds like a giant or a gorilla walking around in those clogs all day. Who wears clogs all day in the house? WHO walks like that??And she must also be deaf, because the tv is so loud, I can hear it. It sounds like a soap opera theme song playing on repeat.She never walks up the stairs to get to her apartment- she runs. She must bounce up and down at least 4 inches on every step. My walls rattle. I don't know what she's banging up there, but I can hear it everyday, and when she's not banging around household objects and furniture, she's loudly banging her boyfriend. I don't want to hear her moaning. It disgusts me. I wonder if she wears her clogs then, too.When they're not banging, they're arguing- at times like 7 am and 2 am...They listen to r&b and they must think the whole world loves it, too, because they BLAST it. Between her clunky, loud clog footsteps all day, the soap opera violins, the arguments, bed creaking, moaning and banging noises, I feel like I'll go INSANE. Sometimes I say out loud "bitch, just sit down!! Don't you ever sit down? Don't you want to watch T.V. right now? Do you EVER go out???AAAAAHHHHHH.Thanks for letting me vent :)

I recently received an email from a British TV producer, looking for residents of the UK who have stories about bad neighbours. I know a few people from the UK have sent me stories, so you guys make sure to contact Lucy at lmorgan@mentorn.tv and make sure to tell her that I sent you.

A copy of her email...


Dear Calvin,

I was very interested to see your web blog about your neighbour. I am currently researching a series in the UK about people who are having any difficulty with their neighbours and hoping to offer some help for their situation. It wasn't clear from your site whether any of your contributors are from the UK. If you do have any UK contributors, I would like to ask them if they would be interested in being part of a documentary series that I am developing.Could you let me know what you think and then maybe if you do have some UK contributors, I could post a message on the site or forward some information about the series to them?With many thanks and best wishes,

Lucy Morgan
Assistant Producer
Mentorn