Are neighbour’s parking demands a bit CF?

[BadAlice]

Live on a small terrace of old farmhand cottages in a village/hamlet of about 20 houses. Narrow, winding lane. Outside the cottages there is enough space to park cars and still have a vehicle get past but much of the road is single lane (no other roads nearby) so it does limit the parking a lot. We all get by by being considerate. On our little terrace there is enough space for everyone to park one car outside of their house pretty much, but someone has to park outside of the corner cottage which has a garage so doesn’t need a parking space. None of the parking is reserved.

The lady who owns the corner cottage is a retiree who has a group of friends over (they do art together or something) once per week. This had stopped due to lockdown but have recently resumed in her garden. This means an extra four or five cars to park. Usually not a problem as lots of people are out during the day. No one on our row is currently back at work properly (working from home or on furlough still).

This morning I noticed corner cottage lady asking our neighbour to move his car from outside her house so her friends could park there today.

Now this is where I think SIBU. Her friends park outside my house if I pop out when they are due. I was clearly just popping to the shop with toddler DS and we had a chat about it as we were leaving this morning. I’m pregnant, waddling, and have a not yet two year old and bags of shopping to manage. If she can ask people to move their cars for her friends, couldn’t she also consider that I might need to park nearer? There is parking about 100m away and I do feel like tht’s a much more reasonable walk for seemingly well, recently retired women (not elderly and infirm) than a harassed mum tbh. It wouldn’t even occur to me to ask them not to park outside our house if it wasn’t for the fact that she asks people to move from outside hers though!

[gumball37]

Why so you think I'm on a site for people from outside the US? I'm quite fond of learning about other situations outside of my own. And doing so without being a cunt🤷

[LillianBland]

@gumball37

Why so you think I'm on a site for people from outside the US? I'm quite fond of learning about other situations outside of my own. And doing so without being a cunt🤷

And doing so without being a cunt

That’s good. Maybe if you think about how you come across, people won’t mistake you for one.

[gumball37]

I was literally expressing my view of it being ridiculous that she even has to have this conversation with a neighbor... Other people took it differently.

[Floralnomad]

The neighbour is a CF and should be told NO very firmly in future , and if one of her art group does have a hidden disability she can let them park on her drive and she can park her own car elsewhere .

[NoProblem123]

First come first served - end of.
CF corner lady.
And just because you’re waddling doesn’t mean you have more right to park outside your house than a fit, able bodied marathon runner (who may well be agoraphobic and have a mobility car for all we know).

[krustykittens]

gumball37 I was impressed with how wide streets are in the US and how comfortably cars are accommodated, even in a city as old as Boston. I used to live in Bath and it was HELL for parking. But I find in the US there is a bigger reliance on cars then there is here and more of an assumption you will drive everywhere. I suppose cheap oil created the car culture? But the idea of living on gated estates and driving to huge malls to shop doesn't appeal to me at all, I like my life more higgeldy piggeldy! A bit of this and a bit of that and plenty within walking distance and some form of public transport, rather than driving to massive, purpose built sites, with nothing in between. I did enjoy the bits of America I visited (I would have loved a chance to live in Boston) and I love the fact that you have more truly wild spaces than we do but that is probably down to population density, which I didn't know that stats on either, so thanks for that giantkitten

[krustykittens]

Sorry, yes OP, neighbour is a cheeky fucker. If everyone in your stretch starts thinking they can reserve the stretch of public road outside their houses and starts bickering about it, it will be anarchy. ANARCHY, I tell you! Perhaps point that out to her and tell her to be careful that she is not opening the door to distressing behaviour that would impact on everyone's quality of life.

[IndecentFeminist]

A lot of houses in the UK were built a long time before cars were even dreamt of. Why on earth would every house have space for something that wasn't invented when it was built? 😂 The USA as it is is a far newer nation.

[AriadnesFilament]

@gumball37 well done for completely derailing OPs thread. If you want to talk about how startlingly weird parking is in a country you don’t live in perhaps start a new thread, or observe from behind your screen then discuss with your real life friends?

OP, YANBU. If she can ask people to move for her friends then you can ask her friends to move for you.

[theemmadilemma]

I would have a chat with her, all very nice and say you noticed she was asking other neighbour to not park outside her house to accommodate her friends, would she mind letting her friends know that if you are not in your space you are only out for short periods of time currently and so they are not take the space as you need to park close.

[gumball37]

@krustykittens

It's crazy how different it is. I always feel like the UK is the posh older brother of the US's spoiled younger sibling haha. And there are places where the roads are small and walking is the way to go... But not near enough of them. In fact... I'm out a bit far from that because I can't afford housing closer. So we drive and park to where we can stroll the shops... Which is ridiculous but... It's the only way to do it.

Side note... Love the phrase "higgeldy piggeldy" 🤣🤣💕💕