...to think this woman is being unbelievably precious about her grass?

[Jaylabelle]

Bought my ds a rather expensive football for his birthday - it was his main present. On Friday he and his friends were kicking it about as they walked home from school. They walk along a winding road with lots of big houses with big gardens, and they accidentally kicked it someone’s garden.

He rang the doorbell, but no-one answered, so we went round this morning to ask for it back.

A woman answered the door, we asked her, and she said she had seen the football at the end of the garden, but she couldn’t get it back as they’ve just had their lawn relaid and can’t walk on it for 3 weeks!?!

Is it just me who thinks she’s being incredibly precious over some grass? I can’t believe we’re going to have to wait 3 weeks to get back Ds’s football - he’s so upset. Her walking quickly to get it wouldn’t do any harm. I offered to send ds as he’s very small and light but she refused to let him.

Half the fun in our neighbourhood was trying to get the ball back from the "witch" who lived next door to youth club. Poor women. She used to chase you with a stick

I never knew grass was so fragile or expensive.

Strange really as it's not exactly in short supply.

Sorry Trudeau I misunderstood.

In the 80's we got loads of bollockings and ball poppings Yes true, my brother still talks about the time his space hopper went over the neighbour's fence and was thrown back the next day stabbed to death.
RIP space hopper.

This will be such a useful lesson for your son. Good on her

and was thrown back the next day stabbed to death.

Oh no what sort of neighbour did you have? That's quite funny looking back but probably annoying at the time for your poor brother.

The thing about strips of turf, is that you have to keep them moist all the time so that they root into the real soil underneath. If you then walk on it, it squishes down under your weight and that pulls the edges of the strip out of alignment with its neighbours on both sides. It is impossible to fix without completely relaying the whole section and that will set back any rooting that has already happened. If you dont notice that someone (dh) tiptoed across new turf to get to the shed until after the three weeks are up, you spend hours and months sifting soil into the gaps and trying to reseed them with grass that will blend with whatever particular mix they used at the turf nursery. Calling the process a PITA is the understatement of the year

When we had young kids living next door my garden was like a graveyard for footballs. With a pair of terriers having free access to the garden, I reckon the average lifespan of any football coming over the fence was about 5 minutes.

He was really upset about the decimated space hopper actually although we laugh about it now.

It's easy to underestimate how much some children might treasure a shiny new football they've waited until their birthday to own. Maybe his parents don't have much money and can't replace it.

I reckon after 3 weeks sitting in a muddy flowerbed it won't be nice and shiny. I can't help feeling really sorry for him.

You are being rather precious about the ball IMO. He can wait a few weeks and certainly should not have been kicking a ball whilst walking home.

My space hopper exploded when a "big boy" from the neighbourhood had a go . I was devestated and plotted revenge for years. I did whip him really hard with my skipping rope at the time (the wooden handled kind). It was a tough crowd in the quaint cotswold village I grew up in

Ilostitintheearlynineties, how on earth do you cope with real bad news? You sound emotionally fragile. Take care of yourself.

It'll teach your son to be more careful next time

Everything has to be a learning experience.

He will also have learned that you can't walk on new grass for 3 weeks same as I have.

I'm actually with the home owner. I had my garden grass relaid and it needs care to grow. I know I sound precious but the grass needs to settle!!

I feel sorry for the boy but have also paid a lot of money in the past and been told not to walk on it for 3 weeks.

I thought using an expensive football on concrete was foolish though, let alone next to a road.

Lostinthenineties-your post has made me chuckle.

I watched some teenage boys playing football behind my house yesterday, despite a 'no ball games' sign.

Post not finished. I was contemplating whether I would give their ball back I f it came over. I think I might be tempted to hang on to it in the hope of discouraging repeats.
We had a neighbour who was renowned for hanging on to balls kicked over from the grass area next to his house (and occasionally from our house). It was annoying, but he just got tired of it happening and hung on to them. Every now and again when he was out his daughter would throw them back.
It was just a lesson learnt by local children - be more careful.

I'm shocked people pay alot of money for grass. What a waste all these lawns that aren't helping the planet, bees or biodiversity.

Go on, what should we put down instead of grass then?

“Christ I hope this woman doesn't have children living next door to her, squirrels digging or local cats. How will she ever relax?”

Exactly! How can anyone relax in their own garden when there are children out there kicking balls so hard they might come flying over your fence and injure you as you innocently sit in your garden. I despair humanity too.

She has every right to prioritise her expensive new lawn over your son's football. Also if it landed in her flower bed it probably caused some damage. You should be apologetic not indignant.

We lived somewhere once where a lot of balls came over and it did get very intrusive to have all those door bells rining day after day when you were half naked in the shower and charging down and then having to spend a lot of time looking for the wretched ball. Also you neve rknew which garden they had come from if they came into the garden so although you'd rather throw them straight back to avoid the intrusive calls at the door day after day but you weren't sure which garden they had come in from or you'd have to let the child into the garden to look around to find it which could take ages until they realised they must have kicked it somewhere else. Keeping it for a while is a good compromise as the child realises if they kick it over there is a risk they won't have the ball for a while and they are a bit more careful in future and yet is not as bad as theft of the ball or stabbing it or the dog getting it.

I just hope the flower bed doesn't have a rosebush in it.

expensive football, kicked against a rosebush = puntured irreparable football. do I sound bitter?

Would be nice if the expensive ones were more puncture resistant, but apparently not.

I had a similar unfortunate experience when our just blown up paddling pool met it's end on a rose bush before I had a chance to fill it with water steppemum So annoying.

I was considering chucking some grass seed on a bare patch at the bottom of our garden. Now I'm not so sure. Growing grass seems more difficult than I thought and we may not be able to walk on it for 2 years.