Obsessive neighbour losing the plot over leaves

[Sparkies2012]

Our neighbours are a relatively elderly couple and since they moved in have had a bee in their bonnet over leaves that blow onto their driveway. The gate to our driveway is opposite to their open driveway, separated by a narrow road. Our next door neighbour has a massive old tree in their garden that produces a lot of leaves, most of which fall into our driveway. We don’t really bother collecting the leaves, as it is an endless task at this time of the year, but the elderly couple is constantly on at us because the leaves blow across the road into their driveway and the odd one gets in their front door. Now we have told them we don’t produce the leaves, and they don’t bother us, so if they are bothered by the leaves either pick them up or take it up with our neighbour who owns the tree. But now they have even started collecting them in black bags and, under the cover of darkness, leaving them in front of our driveway gate, or throwing them over our fence. I’m tempted next time they do this to open the bag and dump it over their driveway again. AIBU by not picking up the leaves in our garden?

This. 😂 It doesn't matter if you have one or not, they don't know that, and you don't have to give further info. This should stop them.

When you put a note of 'not my tree - I don't have one', on the bag, put the number of the neighbour, whose tree it is. Just say, please take the matter up with them.

See what happens.

OP described the couple as “relatively elderly”, others are talking about “old people” and about how they don’t have much of a life.

Out of interest, how old are we talking? And at what age does age itself become an acceptable excuse for entitled passive aggressive behaviour?

I’m 59, DH is 63, but we are retired. We do a lot with various hobby groups, especially U3A, therefore we mix with a lot of people who are considerably older than us. They mostly live active, busy lives, albeit somewhat slower than they used to be. If any of them are worried by leaves blown across from neighbours’ drives, it’s not to do with their age. It’s to do with their personality and belief system.

You don't happen to live opposite Meddlesome Ratbag from Viz comic, do you?

I hope if you put the bags of leaves back on their driveway, you empty the bags,not just politely place the bags back. Undo all their hard work over and over again.

I had a neighbour put Dog poo in a bag on my driveway once and tell me he was calling the police on me for it as I hadnt picked up my dogs dirt. He waited until I was out of course, but my other neighbour saw him.
So I called the police on him for trespassing and harrasment, they called him into the station, called to his home in front of all the neighbours, his children saw the squad car at the door. He was given an official warning.
Because it wasnt my dog.
I wouldnt take this off anyone and Id make sure they knew it.
How fucking dare they bring this aggro to your door, its not your tree.
I would absolutely tell them i would be reporting them for trespassing and harrasment and fly tipping if they dont stop, and then i would do it.

I'd write a letter from "Bill and Ben Solicitor's" asking them to cease and desist leaving their bags of leaves on your property.

It's illegal to pretend to be a solicitor. Or a barrister. But it's fine to pretend to be a lawyer.

This reminds me of the rose

We bought our house 7 years ago,next door (lovely chap) died a few years later and new council tenants moved in (context-im not a snob at all)

Years earlier my granny died (never met her as she died before i was born) and my darling grandad planted a white rose in her memory (bloody thing only flowered once in my childhood)

I was talking about this rose to dp and he mentioned if I'd like to plant a white rose in memory of my grandad-carry it forward so to speak,now we had our own place

I loved the idea and spent weeks looking for one,found one and we planted it

The second it bloomed,next door lost their mind-i was screamed at to remove it or 'I'll ring your landlord and have you thrown out!'

We ignored her so she ramped it up and went to the council and when they told her to keep her beak out she rang the police!

Apparently she could hurt herself on its thorns (only if she was in our garden and she touches it)

(She's not old at all-just thinks she's queen bee and boss of the street)

My precious rose sits in its pot,in our back garden gently winding her up

I've heard her gobbling off about how she's going to weedkiller it as 'it's got no right to be there!'

Mind you,she's tried to tell us where to park ('10 streets away') 'don't stand and wait at your front door for dp to come home from work' and 'your not allowed to have your friends round!I know your landlord and he agrees with me!' (We don't have a landlord)

Some people are just batshit-she parks outside her house,has her loud mates round,stands where she likes and the best one?

She has a rose of her own that grows in her front garden

It pisses her off that we never say a word about it,sitting there in her garden,all red,thorny and loud

😂😂😂

Good job they don't live where I do, there are loads of trees (in all the gardens) and therefore loads of leaves. Some come from a tree in our garden, others come from our respective neighbours. We just rake them up and gradually get rid of them via the garden waste bin collection.

If you don't like leaves, you move to somewhere without trees.

It's illegal to pretend to be a solicitor. Or a barrister. But it's fine to pretend to be a lawyer.

No it isn't

National express?

It's in the posting rules. Someone's over 50 - get the boomer jibe in.

I am 53. I am not a baby boomer.
My mother, born in 1947 was a baby boomer.

Many people don't understand where the term baby boomer came from and thus how it is not at all relevant to anyone born after the mid 60s.

If you're going to have a dig at someone, at least use an appropriate one.

My mother is 85 and has the same obsession with leaves! 🙄 I went there at the weekend and blitzed her garden of them - I don't get the leaf obsession either, our place here is covered in them, they are a natural process. Your neighbours sound tedious and with a lot of time on their hands.

We have a massive old oak tree in our road. All my neighbours do this to me…however, they deliberately rake up their leaves for me because I want them for leaf mold which is amazing stuff! I have wonderful neighbours!

YABU for not dumping the leaves (the leaves not the bags) back in their property.

Of course I wouldn't blame a neighbour but just because something is natural doesn't mean it's benign. Wet/frozen leaves are a slip hazard and clearing them up means you don't slip. Far better to compost them either yourself or using the council facility than risk injury because of some misguided view of not hampering nature - I mean, they're already dead. Leaving them on the path won't do anything positive.

What this particular neighbour is doing is OTT and misdirected but I do think that, for eg on main public paths, it is poor show for councils to not clean them up.

Yoi could call the police about their antisocial behaviour. Hopefully, they'll send someone out ho discuss the situation to them and actually find out why it's supposed to be your fault and not the people who actually own the tree.

Alternatively grab those leaves with both hands as they produce amazing compost.

Actually a genius idea.

Itwasafterallallaboutme What a wonderful piece of prose- I loved it. Thank you.

Tell them to “Leaf it out & leaf you alone”.

I'd love you to empty the leaves on your driveway and give them the bags back 😂

It pisses her off that we never say a word about it

That's what people should do, ignore ranters, it drives them crazy, far more than getting into an argument with them.

Better still, on their drive.

That really sounds like mental illness, yikes.