Sunday 21 April 2013

Day 43

Dear Reader it was a beautiful day, apart from the rain the sun is shining.  Yesterday it was a lovely sunny day and do you know what dear Reader? I have discovered something new about sunny days. The lawn mowers come out. It is all you hear people cutting their grass and then you see them heading to the garden centre buying nice things to spruce the garden up. They were flocking into Home Base yesterday with their trolleys putting lots of different things in for the garden.

Up until my allergies got bad, I always use to be the one who mowed the lawn in this household. I used to be a bit afraid of the lawn mower to tell the truth. I was terrified I might run over the wire. It to me was like operating a motorbike. But I overcome my fear and got on with it.  I overcame the lawn mower fear only to face another one... my neighbour!

Every time I would go out to mow my front lawn, she would come out, not in a friendly how do you do kind of way, but in a pacing folding arms kind of way. Looking really angry. No reason at all, I was just cutting my grass and nowhere near her garden. But no she would wait until I locked eye contact with her and then she would start accusing me of going over two inches on to her side of garden. Even though there is actually a concrete path that separates her garden from mine.  That was all it was about dear Reader, always started and accusing me of going over the two inches. Which I never did. This started to happen every time I tried to do my garden. She was like a rottweiler guarding her territory. 

I soon learnt to go out wearing head phones whilst I was cutting the grass with my back to her property. These are all privately owned homes, and we all take a real pride in our properties and do our best to get on with all our neighbours--it is a friendly little cul-de-sac.  With that in mind and that she is an older woman, I never answered her back or got into an argument. I took my school girl tell off on the chin and I went back inside only going back out to finish once she went back in. I soon learnt she went out most Sunday afternoons for a hour, so that was when I was like Greased Lightning whizzing out cutting the grass to get it all done while she was out. It become something of a joke in our house.

Then one day my son Master L luckily was not in his loft bed at the time, when his ceiling collapsed and completely fell down leaving a big hole and lots of foam and insulation  all over his bed. When I say big, I mean a huge gaping hole. It was a mess. Like I say luckily he was not in his bed or it could have been a much more serious incident. Anyway the hubby and I had no idea what the hell had happened, I even went to my problem neighbour to check she was OK and that her property had not suffered the same fate. She was fine and there was no damage.

We have never claimed off the insurance before, but thought surely whatever has caused this the insurance will pay out. Anyway do you know what the problem was that caused it, dear Reader? After the insurance company investigated what had caused such a thing to happen? Only said neighbour's ivy. That had not only started to climb up my wall but had grown all on our roof and when it had rained the ivy had got heavier and heavier until it had got too heavy and fallen through my roof and Master L's ceiling. The insurance company did not see it as their problem. That we could not claim because it was my neighbour who had caused the damaged. However after much wrangling between them and us they did agree to fixing the ceiling (the cheaper job) We were left looking at a roof repair bill of a thousand pounds. We also had to get the roof repaired first before they could fix the ceiling. While it was all getting sorted we had to remove what we could from Master L's room and place buckets in the room, for when it rained it would leak straight through the gaping hole.

We thought of going through court to get the money for the damage that we had on our hands from our neighbour, but this would take time and she was not the most reasonable of people to sort things out with was she? So in the end we paid the bill ourselves and got it sorted. Saving ourselves a lot of stress I feel.

So the next time I went out to do the grass, she was there and she was bold as anything pacing and starting her usually complaining about me going over onto her grass by the two inches. So I said to her 
"You have no right to complain to me anymore. You lost your right when your ivy grew on my house and caused my ceiling to collapse. And if you ever complain at me again I can still claim my money back through the courts." Of course she tried to argue, but again respecting that she was older I went inside. 

She never came out to complain at me again for going over two inches. When our shared fence was damaged and needed repairing. we paid for a new one and never asked her for half the money and do you know what dear Reader, sometimes it is worth paying all that money to get a bit of peace and quiet and no stress. Our gardens at the front are all open plan but I am now tempted to put a fence around our property at the front too. She now has no power to tell me off for anything and she can stick her two inches up her rose berry bush.

Evening all x x x

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