Saturday, December 4, 2010

Neighbourly Love


When I decided to create a blog on the designing, creating, building and decorating of our new house, I wanted to keep it an upbeat interesting insight into the process. Apart from a little whingeing about the weather, I didn't want to dwell on the negatives - like difficult neighbours, annoying tradesmen, building errors or architectural problems. And to be fair, we've had a pretty good run so far with most things apart from the sewer pipe issue at the start and a bit of a door-height problem with the brickies' job.

However, we have one particular neighbour who has been difficult at every stage of the process - objecting to everything and being impossible to reason with. And up until now I wasn't going to mention him at all. Neighbourly problems are not uncommon (in fact, I think they're positively rife) and they always seem to become  heightened when one neighbour decides to build or renovate. We've all heard the horror stories. But right now, I am livid. I am speechless. And I thought I'd share with you what our delightful neighbour did last week.

As you know we've built a pool. It's not yet complete - just formed in concrete and with all the rain we've been having it's filled up with muddy water. Last week, when the rain had eased the foreman decided it was time to drain it - which he could easily do through the sewer/water pipes. But when he got to the pool area he noticed a strong smell of petrol!

Turns out our charming neighbour took it upon himself to hop into our property after-hours (which is technically trespassing) and pour kerosene into the pool because he was worried about mosquito larvae growing in the water and then having an outbreak of mosquitos! (Am I allowed more exclamation marks here ..?).

Not once did he think to either discuss this with the builders over the fence, or email or call either ourselves or our architect about his concerns. Oh yes, and did I mention this guy is a 60-something (at a guess) lawyer? (I would like to use multiple exclamation marks here but will refrain).

So, naturally, now the foreman cannot drain the water away into the sewer/water pipes and the cost of hiring a special machine to do so is around $1000. Said neighbour is apparently apologetic (not that he's said so to us, mind you) and it's been decided (as said neighbour doesn't want to pay $1000 for the machine hire) that the kerosene will evaporate eventually ... but I don't know how long that will be as we've now had more rain.

So you can see why I'm livid, speechless, agog at this man's actions. I mean, it's meant to be the season of good will. Where's the good will in that?

9 comments:

  1. What a turd burger! Not very eloquent, I know, but I think it might describe him well :)

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  2. I can't believe someone would do that. I really hope that your neighbour pulls his head in. And I can't wait for your house to be finished and you can make as much noise as you can as you splash in your lovely pool.

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  3. u ould feel just ass angry. I was getting frustrated just reading what he did. He went onto your property, poured petrol which now cannot be drained without a massive expense. He should be liable to pay at least half if not all. If he kicks up a fuss, and it were me, I'd wonder if getting another lawyer to write a letter asking for payment from him. This is if you have a lawyer friend. Some people are so ridiculous !!!!

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  4. AAARRRGGHHH!! What a jerk, how dare he, what if it danged your pool surface...we have a couple in our street that we all call Mr & Mrs Knucklehead, they are annoying!!
    To cheer you up, if you have time I have an award for you over at my blogjust pop by & grab it, I also suggested everyone pop by to peek at you book. Hope you dont mind!!
    Cheers Trish

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  5. Oh my gosh..some people are beyond belief! What was he thinking ??? Surely he was breaking the law....Calling him a knucklehead would be too kind..I'm sure you called him many varied expletives.. Kharma I say, will get him eventually. Good luck, Kym X

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  6. Hello Jane....!

    THANK YOU so much for coming to our party to help Gina & I celebrate our 100th posts....I hope you enjoyed yourself & were able to visit a few new blogs.... :o) !

    I started reading this post & got as far as KEROSENE & thought....No....This is NOT a time for a speed read....So....I'm off to take care of some emails & THE spreadsheet, after which I'll grab a LARGE glass of wine & come back to give the time & attention your words require....!!

    Cheers for a BIT,
    Tamarah :o)

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  7. Oh my!!! You must be furious. He should know better than that! I hope it all evaporates soon and there are no more incidents with the Knuckleheads. xx

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  8. What a dreadful, stressful incident! We have a horrible neighbour too but he hasn't done anything like that. My advice would be to report it to the police, it's pretty serious. My heart goes out to you!

    Regarding our floors - they are Karri (a very basic grade, nothing fancy). Karri has reds and browns through it, with some very dark pieces. You need to be careful who sands and polished your floors though as this flooring can look very different depending on who finishes it! Ours were finely sanded and triple polished over three days. Don't let anyone use any kind of 'quick dry' stuff so that it can be done in less time - it will lighten your floors! You can read about our flooring saga on my blog - just click on the 'Flooring' label. Good luck with yours! Rachaelxx

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