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?

You asked what seemed like quite an obvious question and got obvious answers.

Why can't I be serious?

We live directly opposite a park fringed by big deciduous trees. In the autumn, guess what? The leaves blow into our front garden and <shock horror!> on to the path. I generally kick them into the flower-beds, where they decompose. If there are a lot, I put them into the compost bin or the garden-waste bin.

Should I be collecting them and delivering bagloads to the neighbours? I mean, if the wind's from the south, I'm sure some of them must have blown over from next-door. And some of the neighbours have trees - the bastards! Do they not care about my front path?

Please advise. Also, I am getting old, though I do not yet self-identify as elderly. When do I get my free pass to behave like a lunatic?

This thread has proper tickled me - they're absolutely batshit!!

That said, I genuinely think if you reported them for harassment it would be taken seriously, especially as they've admitted going onto your property.

I'd be noting the lot down and setting up cameras, not just to catch them dropping bags/leaves but to catch their faces when they answer the door to coppers 😂

Because people of any age - especially those with lots of spare time - can't just expect other people (who likely do not have as much spare time) to partake in their hobbies or obsessions.

That attitude makes me think of quiz shows where contestants will often say "My [relative] (i.e. not me personally) is a huge football fan/fluent Spanish speaker/dog lover/chartered accountant/yoga teacher etc., so they will kill me if I get this one wrong." Why can't people understand that not everybody likes or cares about the same things as they do?

They're blaming the fact that OP has a fence with a gap underneath it. All they need to do is erect their own fence next to it, without any gaps in it, then it's job done. No more sweeping, no more fretting, no more passive-aggressive behaviour necessary, all of that time saved.

Except they won't ever do that, as that would then prove that it is autumn and the wind to 'blame' and not OP, so they would have no more justification for their self-righteous moaning and blaming her for literally nothing at all.

To be honest, they sound like the kind of people who truly love complaining and arbitrarily assessing themselves as 'better' than other people for silly, petty reasons - and the very worst, most terrifying nightmare they could ever have would be one in which every single one of their complaints is fully resolved forever, leaving them with absolutely nothing left to complain about.



They once supported Robbie Williams. I was really irked as the Robbie fans just shouted , screamed for Robbie all the way through their set.

That's a bit like The Ivy supporting McDonald's!

Well quite!!

I saw this today and remembered you lol 😂

https://fb.watch/on1kSUYcDa/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Why can't I be serious?

Erm... because they could not be more unreasonable?! 🙈

@Sparkies2012

You've hit the big time!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-12761895/My-nightmare-neighbours-wrongly-convinced-leaves-driveway-tree-dumped-mess-garden.html

Wow thanks @SinnerBoy who knew my rant about leaves would be such a hit!

Err I feel the DM rather twisted the headline...

It’s the significance of it though, isn’t it ? For most of us we would fall, get up and brush ourselves off and carry on. For someone frail and elderly it would likely end up in a hospital visit with significant injury, so the fall becomes an event. When my elderly mum broke her hip, her hospital discharge notes didn’t state ‘fell and fractured her hip’ they said ‘sustained hip fracture after having a fall at home’.

Is it a specific niche career to be those angry people who appear in 'dramatisations' as in the above DM one?

Do they have showreels to help them get more work, proudly showing their skills at throwing their arms up in the air, shaking fists, puffing-out cheeks, expressing general peeved-ness?

It’s mulch ado about nothing.

Arff!😂

The article was so badly written!!! 🤣

😂😂

Hahaha post the article through their letterbox!

Invite a group of children to come and eat haribo and oreos while they rake leaves into whatever formation they like, making as much noise as they want. At the end of the session the children must proudly present the INSANE neighbours with a small bag of leaves that they have tidied up for them, standing expectantly on the doorstep long after it turns awkward, then ask the neighbours if they would like them to come again so that they can keep on top of your leaves, or even tackle the leaf problem on the neighbours’ patch as well.

If that’s not enough to make the neighbours decide they can live with the leaves after all, I don’t know what is.

And there’s loads of fun to be had with leaves. We used to rake them into one big pile and then parachute (with umbrella) off a stepladder into the leaves.

So sorry to hear this!! Unfortunately, SOME Neighbours, just, want ALL their own way!! I know someone who went next door, to, complain about a microwave 'pinging'!! As someone else, rightly, said, IF you 'back down', it, really WON'T be, TOO long, before, they are 'on' at you, over something else!! Such a 'shame', you have 'landed up' with a Neighbour like this!! IF it were me, I would, have, some kind of security camera installed, get, hopefully, a CLEAR 'image', of, them 'dumping' the leaves, back, to you!! You could, then, perhaps, at 'threaten' them, with, some kind of civil?? action, or, calling the Police!! You, also, could, offer to show them the video 'evidence' of the above, BEFORE, you take it any further!!

Haha I genuinely always wonder how and who puts together all the weird stock images you see like that one featured

Your CAPS and 'quotations' are really odd.