Neighbours copying us..

[sarahsoupy]

So hear me out as I'm sure most will read the title and think here we go again...

We moved into our house about 2 years ago. We have the same house as the neighbours, they're small detached bungalows and we're the only houses like this on the street.

The neighbours are late 70s, retired couple, they're very friendly people.

Anyway, since we've moved in, we've made some small changes to the house, and after each change the man next door has done the exact same thing to his house..

First he changed our gate, 2 weeks later, he changed their gate.
Then we put up a new house number on the front, which also says the street name in it, the man then put up a house number with the street name the same as ours.
At Christmas we put some lights up over the guttering, the man then put the exact same lights up over his guttering.
This hasn't happened yet but my DH said we were looking to get a new garage door, and he's now getting a new garage door.

Now to top it all off, we've just got a new electric car on finance, and a charger.
He's now got a new electric car and charger to be installed.

Our neighbours (opposite) have mentioned they think we're 'inspiring him'.

The thing that's odd as well is, when we moved in he kept saying how wonderful it was to have young people next door, he probably said it about 10 times to the point it was a bit cringey.
Him and his wife were extremely keen to be friendly with us when we moved in, they were talking about dinner parties, going out together with our kids, taking our DS out, lending us money if we needed it, calling us over the fence if they heard us in the garden, wanting to be involved with all of our goings on, wanting to know details of what we bought at the shops if they caught us coming home with bags in our hands - it was totally overkill and made us uncomfortable. We drew back a little and since then they've been bordering on acting quite off with us, which honestly has been welcome.

It feels quite uncomfortable, especially now other neighbours are noticing, as well as the fact they're no longer very friendly.
Anyone else ever had this scenario!?
Why does it feel like he's so invested in us and what we're doing, but also angry with us not wanting to be best of friends?

Also it's telling you 'I'm watching you' and it's telling the neighbours 'look aren't we in sync and aligned, don't we get on so well!'...again this is a cynical view I realise but I wanted to throw it into the mix so you can make your own mind up if you feel this narrative could fit, as you know something is off otherwise you wouldn't have posted.

Where do you get your ideas from? Pinterest? Instagram? Tick-tock etc.
if you do, and most of us do, then we are copying other people and they are simply doing the same thing. I'm not sure you should worry about it. If ever you decide to sell, or even when you have friends over, it's nice that the house next door isn't a mess.

Absolute drivel.

I have had this happen to me before (copying what I did to my house) and a friend said to take it as a compliment. You could have worse neighbours as in leaving rubbish lying around.

You sound very harsh.

Being sociable doesn't mean you aren't lonely. It can make it worse.

@sarahsoupy Again, I never suggested the mince pies as an apology. I don't know how many times I need to say it. Sometimes neighbours give each other kind gestures at Christmas, especially elderly neighbours.

A couple of our own neighbours have pissed me right off over the 5 years since we all moved in but we have to live here indefinitely; So I'm polite, friendly & neighbourly. None of us know when an unexpected crisis may force us to need to rely on our neighbours one day, although I'm sure you'll bat that away and declare that that will never^ happen to you or your DH^ 🙄