My neighbors didn’t mow their lawn for 3-4 weeks. They don’t own a lawnmower, but the couple across the street always mows their lawn. The problem is, the couple with the lawnmower went on vacation. The obvious solution is to get a kid in the neighborhood to mow it for you. They just let it grow, and Grow and GROW (we’re talking waist-high here). Furthermore, they acted as if nothing was wrong.
Last week, I emailed the president of the Homeowners Assn. I never heard anything back, so this morning I took pictures of the grass (er, jungle) with the intention of emailing the president this afternoon with the attached photos. There was a guy in the garage this morning watching me while I was taking pictures, but he didn’t say anything (his English isn’t that good).
I get home this afternoon and notice that the grass had been cut, so I start celebrating in my car as I pull into the driveway. Next thing I know, the guy’s twentysomething daughter comes out of the house and starts saying “Were you taking pictures of my property this morning?!?” (this is the FIRST time in the FIVE years we have lived here that she has spoken to me). I told her “Yeah, I was sick and tired of your yard, so I was going to email the pics to the Assn president this afternoon.” She starts going on about how I had “no right” to do that, and I “could have been more neighborly” (like never talking to me before today is neighborly).
I stated she could have been a better neighbor by keeping up with her lawn instead of waiting for their lawnmowers to return from vacation. I further informed her that I didn’t trespass, and I was only taking pictures of what everyone else in the neighborhood could see, so I was perfectly within my rights. She started with the attitude again, so I said “you know, it’s people like you that make me want to move out of here”. She replied intelligently “So? And? Go ahead and move!”
So, I called her what she is, a bitch, gathered my stuff, and went into the house. She said “I was nice to you; you didn’t need to start cursing”, so I replied with “I call it like it is, and you could have been nice by MOWING YOUR LAWN”.
Fast forward about 10 minutes. I prepared to leave and get my nails done only to find a car belonging to one of the bitch neighbor’s many male friends (ahem) parked on my property and her younger sister talking to 3 other teenage girls from up the street in my driveway. They dispersed shortly after I started the car.
I think that the Assn had the lawn mowed and billed them, and that I got the brunt of the anger because they thought I sent the pics (I haven’t yet). I further think I was perfectly within my rights. Their lawn was making my property look bad and it was violating Assn rules. I was also concerned about snakes.
So, should I prepare for retaliation tonight?