Monday, December 01, 2008

Fun Monday Neighbors from Hades

Whew...now that NaBloPoMo is over, I'm actually glad to merely focus on Fun Monday for a while! Ari_1965 is this week's hostess, and she wants to know about our worst neighbors EVER.

Living in a small town, I figured this could get me in some trouble. I started thinking of all the bad neighbors I had in the past, and then realized they were bad neighbors only b/c they had such little tolerance for the late-night partying ways of a college student. Other neighbors that city ordinances define as 'bad' were the quietest, most non-obtrusive on the block.

I've only had one REALLY bad set of neighbors...though they didn't live quite next door. When I lived in the "old part" of town, my house was very close to the houses on both sides. Likewise, the houses across the street were close. One of these houses was obscured by overgrown bushes...it used to be a cute house, belonging to a local artist. When The Offspring was a toddler, the house became a rental. The occupants had NO restraint when it came to the use of expletives - LOUD expletives, shouted for the entire block to hear. Sometimes, their voices could be heard even with all the doors and windows shut.

As years wore on, activity at the house increased. A lot. Random folks would seem to appear on the sidewalk, and stumble away with hazy eyes. Young men would sidle up the alley behind our house, and magically find themselves across the street, at "that" house. Only to stay for a moment, before exiting, bleary-eyed. The traffic became so obvious, that it was only a matter of time before police vehicles frequented the domicile. We observed one occupant (female) submit to officers as she was led away in handcuffs, crying, pleading...to no avail. Most disturbing were the little children in and out of the house. I wondered what their existence must be like. I was sad for them.

In our old home, our master bedroom windows faced the street. One morning, in the wee hours, I awoke to flashing lights. Reds and blues, blinding almost...as I went to the window to see what was going on, I couldn't see anything. There was a haze in the air, with only red and blue flashes within the fog. Slowly, I came to realize that this time the flashes were NOT only from the police, but also from the large fire truck in the street. That 'haze' I was struggling to see thru was the smoke from a fire that had broken out upstairs at 'that house.' The smell that filled the air was horrific...I'm not sure what was going on at 'that house,' but I was assured that the fire was caused by something left on the stove unattended. I was glad the children escaped the home unharmed.

I don't miss living so close to my neighbors. Granted, I do miss some of the porch visits and talks with my "good" neighbors, but I like the serenity of the pastures I see, and my new neighbors - a pair of docile horses!

Now, go check out the other participants!

16 comments:

Jill said...

wow. i guess it must have been one of those meth labs. i havent figured that out yet what the appeal is with that stuff. people seem to go to jail an awful lot with it and of course their skin looks awful and they are in such bad health not to mention the danger of fires and etc.

Sayre said...

We had one of those across the street from us when we lived near the university. No fire, but we got out as fast as we could - escaping to the country too! Only elderly parents convinced us to come back to town - with mixed results in the neighbor category.

Anonymous said...

Wow, this is a fun monday I could have gotten into. Too bad my old neighbors who said they were just going to quit reading my blog, continue to read it. The don't understand the concept of logs and statistics apparently. Damn dog-killers.

Sounds like your new location has the best arrangement for neighbors I can imagine. I'm shopping for islands to buy.

Anonymous said...

I bet if I had horses for neighbors they wouldn't bitch at me about my sprinklers. This may be the best idea ever.

ChrisB said...

I'm not surprised you enjoy your new surroundings if you had neighbours like these!

IamwhoIam said...

Well if you concider a crack house as the neighbor from hell. LOL

Vinny "Bond" Marini said...

yeah...sounds like a crack or meth house to me...

Desert Songbird said...

I would think getting used to critters would be a breeze considering "these" neighbors. Crack/meth house indeed.

karisma said...

What amazing me is the police come and go but don't really do anything about the problems. Poor little kids. I also dream of living on a property with distant neighbours.

Mariposa said...

Oh my...I hope authorities get to be in control of situations like those fast!

I'm a bit late this week, but I'm up, have a great week!

Sandy said...

Living in the country is sooooo much better!

Ari_1965 said...

Horses sound good to me.

bichonpawz said...

I love my neighbors....they are cows. Seriously!

Anonymous said...

wow! poor little kids, I feel sorry for them

Tiggerlane said...

Lil Mouse - I don't get it, either - except I read a stat that says 75% of first time users are immediately addicted, and 95% of second-time users. Powerful stuff, I guess.

Sayre - I'm wondering - do elderly parents read your blog - and are they the iffy neighbors?

mark - I forgot - you had the worst neighbors ever. Dog killing heathens.

Melissa - horses WILL gripe...late at night - when it's quiet, and the porch is dark...and BAM! The neighing will make you pee your porch rocker.

ChrisB - and to top it off, all the neighbors were so CLOSE - they could hear me screaming, too.

IamwhoIam - crack house vs. whore house - not sure which I would prefer!

Bond - I don't think crack is big in our area - I'm guessing it was meth.

Desert Songbird - it is, in a way - but I can't call the police to handle the critters.

karisma - very true - the house 'burning them out' was probably the best thing ever.

Mariposa - will come check on you! And luckily - I don't live anywhere nearby anymore...but I still own the house.

Sandy - yes, except for the scary howling coyotes...did I mention those? Yeah. Scary.

Ari_1965 - much better neighbors...not as rowdy.

bermudabluez - I have some of those, too - distant neighbors, about five acres away - but I hear them lowing sometimes.

grace - me, too - I always wonder what happened to them.

Eustace said...

Surely, the dude is absolutely fair.
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