How Do I Keep From Screaming at my Neighbour?

[NotQuiteCockney]

This evening, my neighbour is coming by to pick up the keys for next door. She's been dogsitting for them, but had to go away for 36 hours (not a surprise). So she dropped the keys through the door while we were out yesterday, with an incomprehensible note. And left a message on the answering machine.

The dogs are two big badly trained terriers. One is nearly deaf. I used to enjoy walking them, when they weren't deaf, and I didn't have kids. But taking them out for a walk with the kids this morning was really hellish. They came far too close to getting run over, and I lost the deaf one for a few minutes.

So how do I keep from shouting at the neighbour (who is meant to be dogsitting) when she comes by? I don't get on with her at the moment at all, anyway, but even if I did, who just drops keys through, without knowing when I'll be back, or whether I can help?

Oh, I don't really even want advice, I'm just soooo annoyed with all this, I just want to rant and be sympathised with.

DH thinks I should just express my concern, "what if we'd been away for a few days? what if we'd not checked phone messages?". He's probably right, getting annoyed at her doesn't seem to help.

I asked her to trim back her overgrown bushes, so we could get through to our parking space easily, and she got annoyed. She's now told me to tell the Ocado drivers not to go past her bushes, as she thinks they bumped someone's car, and anyway, she doesn't like them.

This neighbour has me so so so annoyed already, she's just completely irritating. I think I will have to institute a new policy of wandering off whenever she talks to me.

My actual direct neighbours are ok. One side, he's a real Peter Pan type (they're his dogs) but we get on ok. Despite the loud music at all hours, and nude sunbathing, of the early years. The other side, they're our tenants, and these ones are absolutely fine. I get on really well with nearly everyone I know in the development.

And we used to get on with this woman, too - DH fixed her computer a couple of times, for free! And got nothing in the way of a thanks!

She came to get the keys yesterday, and I didn't scream at her!

Because DH dealt with her. Boy is he evil. No shouting, no screaming. He acted concerned: "Are you ok? We were worried. We assumed there must have been something wrong for you to go off so suddenly, and leave the keys like that. If we hadn't come home last night, etc etc." No shouting, no confrontation, just active concern.

It really threw her off. She said she wouldn't do that again. Let's hope so ...