To think this woman has a brass neck

[fortifiedwithtea]

I'm bemused by this cheeky woman. We have blackberries growing in front garden. We also have them in the back to the point that we have far more than we can eat.

Our car is parked outside our front gate and my DC and I were getting in the car. I was just getting in the passenger side when a woman in her sixties stopped, picked a blackberry front our front garden, ate it and walked on. I smiled at her but she refused to make eye contact.

AIBU to think she should have asked first, seeing as I was there? I'm not precious about the blackberries but she wasn't to know that. For all she knows I could be a member of the WI and intent on making jam I'm not

If she had asked or had made eye contact so I could speak to her I'd have said bring a bowl and pick more she'd be doing me a favour.

When I was a kid we used to help ourselves to the blackberries (and honeysuckle flowers) that grew through the fence adjacent to the path between school buildings and there were never any complaints from the house. If it was hanging outside your garden I'd say fair game for blackberries. If she came into your garden definitely not on.

On the flip side, my mother has a fairly rickety pear tree with one healthy branch which happens to grow slightly over the fence above a short path only used by two other houses. It was full of lovely pears (the only ones on the whole tree) and she was stunned to find it had been completely stripped. As she said afterwards, she wouldn't have blinked twice at one or two, but to take well over two dozen seemed a bit of a nerve. The were only just ripe, so whoever they were must have been waiting!

I'm with you op; it takes a certain sort of person to carefully avoid eye contact with the obvious owner of a house as they remove and eat a blackberry that originated from that house's garden. Most people would issue a half-hearted apology of 'Sorry, couldn't resist!' at the very least!

Last time I did that I was a kid and half a bloody worm crawled out.

But no, I don't think it's cheeky. My walk to work passes a raised lawn thats full of daisies. I always pick one to give to an autistic girl at school to put into her hair. Makes her day.

Age is relevant older people have less shame. I am 50 and very little embarrasses me now.

As if I would pick a fight depending on how old someone is ffs give your head a wobble whoever said that.

I didn't say you would pick a fight, just that if it was a younger woman you maybe wouldn't have attempted eye contact? Only you know whether this is true though.

I always feel a little bit when the 'Mexican house thief' (as it is referred to on MN) story is mentioned.

Unfortunately the neighbor is still an entitled prick and continues to try to 'borrow' things from all the neighbors on our lane regularly.
He's even had the cheek to ask DP on more than one occasion if "Eternal still has her knickers in a twist over the holiday mix up"
he has made it clear on many, many occasions that he thinks I was unreasonable to be upset and that in fact he was the wronged party who should have received an apology and been compensated and that I'm just being childish to not allow him free use of our holiday home.
He was even more put out when he found out my brother bought a house in Italy a couple of years ago and we had invited another neighbor (who I consider to be a close friend) to visit and not him and his family, he has been dropping hints regularly for years but I play dumb and pretend I don't understand.
I can't stand him, but try to tolerate him as his wife and DC's are lovely.

We have raspberry canes in our back garden and DS knows what they are and that it's OK to pick them if I'm checking he's picking the right thing.

Our neighbours about 10 houses down the street have raspberry canes in their front garden, overhanging the pavement.

I really think this is an unwise move as (especially when toddler) DC don't really get that the raspberries they can see when out on a walk in the neighbourhood are not fair game like the ones in our back garden. Obviously I discourage the DCs but sometimes I'm not quick enough.

I do tend to think if hanging over the footpath then YABU. But it sounds like they weren't. If they are, you need to pick them quicker than the neighbouring children...

It takes quite a lot for a story to have my jaw on the floor, but the Mexican House Thief story definitely did this. It's partly the wonderful verve with which you tell it *eternal&. I can't believe he's still dropping hints to you and other neighbours. You should tell him he's famous on Mumsnet!!

Helping yourself to blackberries (or fruit) on your side/public space = legitimate. Leaning into a garden to take fruit = wrong. I'm afraid if fruit is over a public path outside of your boundary, it is probably fair game. The only thing you can do is to try to encourage other healthy branches on your side - or replace the tree with something that gives you a better crop!

If your blackberries were growing path side and I walked by with my dog she would wolf down the ones at her height without asking. She loves a blackberry or a raspberry straight from the bush. I apologise now for her rudeness.

She might have done it instinctively without much thought. I would regard coming armed with empty tupperwares as cheeky, not consuming one blackberry.

You lot are so wondrously bloody restrained.

I'd bring out the blunderbuss and let them have it.

My parents have a ridiculously brass-necked neighbour who regularly comes into their garden to pick currants, apricots and wild garlic. Neighbour seems to see nothing wrong with that even though she and my parents are barely on speaking terms for other reasons. Sadly my way too nice DM has chosen to largely ignore her behaviour.

I have plum trees that are outside my garden fence, but are still on my property. This year, persons unknown scrumped my entire plum crop! Bastards. A plum-jamless, plum-crumbleless wilderness stretches before me...

Does someone want to come to my house in October and steal 600 pounds of bloody plums off my tree, they are very nice and sweet but I am still eating jam from 3 years ago so no, I wont be precious about it.

WeAreEternal OMG what a horrible thing to have happened to you Completely outrageous.

I don't think YABU if they're obviously on your property, which sounds like they are.

catnip - if you were near me, I'd bite your hand off!! I LOVE plums but they won't grow for me

Slight changing of topic: what's the etiquette for allotments?

I have an allotment neighbour who is growing vast quantities of soft fruit. He used to be up at the site all the time but I haven't seen him in a month (don't know his name or anyone else up there) and all his fruit has gone from perfect to wilted to literally shrivelling on the vine. Initially I resisted, but now I'm eating 10-20 berries every time I go up there because it doesn't look like he's interested. Am I being a naughty allotment thief?

I also do this with the plots that I know to be unowned and unloved

It's a shame to waste an allotment harvest. But I am way too worried ever to take anything from anyone else's site, even if they are obviously not taking care of it. There's always a part of my mind that says: what if they are doing some kind of experiment/waiting for botrytis/about to turn up any second and catch me necking their berries. The anxiety it induces outweighs the pleasure in my case.

Dirty cow didn't even wash the car fume pollution from it.

Our house was empty for over a year and the neighbours would all come in the garden for apples and plums, even when we moved in we'd catch the buggers. The BACK GARDEN!!
I pile the plums and apples up outside the front for anyone to take now, its excess and not needed, but I wasn't happy about them just coming in, one bloke even had his ladders.
Although this year the plums trees have come down due to diseases. Im quite pleased actually no more wasps from the billions that fall to the ground.

A blackberry isn't cheeky.

Out of your fridge or behind a locked gate ok but on a bush hedge?

Nope.