I'm sorry, but I have to vent about my neighbour 😣

[BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation]

The couple opposite are middle aged, like me and dh. They are both very nosey people and will bombard you with questions and are generally nosey. They also keep you talking for around 30 minutes at a time, given half the chance. Obviously, I can't cope with this and avoid them like the plague. Dh will kind of talk to the man if he's trapped and can't get away, but I just skuttle inside the house. They trap other neighbours as well, not just us. I actually caught him one day stood staring at me and the end neighbour, trying to catch one of us for a chat.

Our small front garden is my hobby and I have lots of stuff planted and like going to tend to it in order to keep it healthy and to relax. It's like my little oasis. It's all open plan so no fence up, although we have a small box hedge.

I try to get the gardening done when they're at work or away, but he works part time shifts so always seems to be there. She's off every weekend. It seems that I can't be out there for half an hour before they arrive back home from wherever they've been. It's become a bit of a joke in our house now 🙄

Weather has been wet here, but I got up to bright sunshine this morning and they've been away since about Tuesday, so I headed on out into the garden.

Dh cut the grass. I tidied. All good.........until, after half an hour........ you've guessed it......

They arrive back!!! 😱

Unbelievable!

I'm now stuck in the back garden 🙄

I just needed to get this out. I haven't actually spoken to them for two years, but they still persist in trying to start a conversation.

Could you get a pair of wireless headphones to wear whilst gardening?

If they try to talk just pretend you can’t hear them, if they’re really really obvious, lift one ear off, say “oh I’d love to talk but this is love so I don’t want to miss it!” Drop the ear back on and carry on completely ignoring them.

My old NDN was elderly and incredibly nosy, he did amazing inquisitions when you wouldn’t even realise until the end he’d asked a hundred questions. But, he took the hint very quickly if you were busy or “sorry, i‘m concentrating, catch you another time!”

Headphones, which you pull away from one ear for a minute to speak to them and tell them 'can't chat, I have to listen to this for work' before replacing, turning your back and getting on with the garden! Or your phone to hand which you answer when you see them approach and then make 'sorry, this will be a long one!' faces at them til they take the hint and leave? Sympathies though, people like your neighbours give me the rage

Ha, great minds think alike

Yes, I have some headphones I could wear. I need dark glasses as well I think 😄

I'm currently considering extending the box hedge. They grow pretty quickly.

Put your ear phones in and when you see them walk over to you talk out loud as if you're on a call to someone and point to your ear and say "sorry I'm on a call" they will walk off 🤣

I had a neighbor worse than that he would knock on my windows doors just to have a chat I'd go out he'd be there chatting away I'm up for a chat with anyone but come on 4-5-6 times a day all the hints in the world didn't work so I moved out and even when I was loading the van he was there chatting I said Im moving buy I wasn't the only one 3 had moved out in that 5 years and 2 more after me I still talk to some of the ones that left and we all just wanted peace he was a pest so I've heard he's still doing it .thank god I'm not there any more my neighbors now keep to themselves hello morning that's it

Get a bikini.... And shades. And headphones..
Enjoy your garden.

For got to mention he'd talk for over 30-45 minutes then go pest someone els and come back again

I always have my headphones in in the front garden even if I'm not listening to anything! Secret is not to make eye contact or engage with anything other than a very distracted 'hi'! I actually don't mind a chat but if I'm gardening I've probably got a very limited time in which I want to get something done!

break in when they take a breath and " have to get on now" and replace headphones, which have become necessary for gardening!

😱😱😱

I'm sorry, but he'd be heading under the patio for that.

Weird? I'm autistic and you're in the wrong section.

You don't call autistic people 'weird'.

Do you even know what section your on? You're weird going round insulting people for no reason.

I'd hate that op!

I actually hide from my neighbours 😂 I have my bins out of the front and dive into my porch if I see them out haha.

Apologies. I didn’t realise what section I was on. I’ll ask for my post to be removed.

My front garden is a complete state for this same reason. We live on a busy thoroughfare and I can barely be be out there for 15 mins before someone wants a chat. Drives me mad. I've tried headphones but people mimic 'take them off' at you. I've tried faking 'oh the youngest is screaming, is better get in' but when I poke my nose outside 5 mins later I get pounced on. Infuriating. Go Away people!!!

Get headphones. Big obvious headphones. Every couple of minutes frown, and repeat things like, 'L'homme qui habite pres de la gare est mon oncle... la femme qui habite avec le chien est fou...' You could do a language podcast but you might not need to, as long as you're frowning hard enough.

I sympathise. I'm lucky in that my neighbours aren't chatty, but even reminders that they exist in such close proximity to me make me feel stressed. I hate even hearing them in their garden going about their perfectly reasonable lives! If I hear them leaving the house at the same time I want to, I always wait until they are well out of the way.

Deffo pretend you’re on a phone call.

Or, just completely ignore them. I find that quite easy to do. People think I’m a right weirdo for it, but I couldn’t care less. I’d just move to a part of the garden even further away from the path, turn my back, and continue to do the gardening. Don’t even acknowledge them.

I don’t answer the phone to people when I’m
not in the mood to chat - which is most of the time - so why treat real life any different?

I'm a bit like this now I'm perimenopausal and don't give a shiny shit what people think of me. It comes under 'don't set yourself on fire to keep other people warm' for me, why should I make myself uncomfortable/stressed just so I don't offend folk who have no relevance in my life and mean nothing to me?

This morning me and dh went out to the front garden and we've planted a box hedge for a bit of screening - alongside the existing hedge. Well, we got to 45 minutes before he came over for a nosey 😠 dh did the talking, I just carried on digging.

How do you make box grow faster?

Can you put up some trellis as a temporary measure until the hedge grows?

I don't think that would look okay in a front garden though 😕 ideally I'd have a little fence, but I can't afford it.