There should be a post in between this talk about neighbors but I haven't gotten around to sitting in this same place & speak about how morose our autumn is. I even have photos to prove it. But then my Swedish neighbor have prompted me to flip out here more than this damn weather did.
Last summer & just one post ago, I spoke about connecting to your neighbors. I had tea with my Swedish neighbor in our garden, together with her Romanian best friend, which followed a house visit after. They mentioned about the problem she was having with her balcony which is located on the top floor, a floor level above our house. They said it collects water when it rains because it doesn't have an appropriate drainage system to which they said that it could be a problem to both of us since we share a common wall. I just merely agreed also having rainwater infiltration problems in our 200 year old house.
The visit continued in my neighbor's house, gasping at how beautiful her balcony view is & frowning on how our roof tiles are out of shape. They showed me that the problem comes from the rainwater draining from her roof without a proper gutter system & they "thought" that maybe she can have her drainpipes pass on our roof & to the front of our house. I couldn't assure it since we have another neighbor in front of our house who will likewise need an agreement but mostly because I didn't want her pipes on my roof. I continued by suggesting that she should really have her pipes on her own property & go all the way in front of her house (her balcony is located at the back). It's logical & I thought I was clear enough. The Romanian best friend even said she might have to reconstruct her roof.
The visit continued in my neighbor's house, gasping at how beautiful her balcony view is & frowning on how our roof tiles are out of shape. They showed me that the problem comes from the rainwater draining from her roof without a proper gutter system & they "thought" that maybe she can have her drainpipes pass on our roof & to the front of our house. I couldn't assure it since we have another neighbor in front of our house who will likewise need an agreement but mostly because I didn't want her pipes on my roof. I continued by suggesting that she should really have her pipes on her own property & go all the way in front of her house (her balcony is located at the back). It's logical & I thought I was clear enough. The Romanian best friend even said she might have to reconstruct her roof.
Last week she was here with her boyfriend on which she mentioned a few months ago "to fix things in the house". We bumped into each other in front of our houses a lot of times & I even helped them trim their grape vines. She invited us a few times but since my husband comes home late from work, we didn't find time for some wine & chat in her house. She then mentioned that she would have friends over to fix the roof problem. I met the said friends & yesterday before they left, they gave me a big pot of mums. My neighbor said she would love for me to have it since she's not here till January. She would want to have the pot back & I thought that was very nice.
For no reason at all & with all the rain, I checked on our exhausted roof even before opening all the window shutters & I couldn't believe what I saw - the friends did work on the roof problem by installing her the gutters but letting all the rainwater drain on our roof...I even didn't see anything like this in the Philippines. Needless to say, I was terribly pissed & totally lost it this morning without resolving it since she will only be here next year.
 | |
| Her day old gutters draining on our roof just like that. Is this normal?! |
Tracing back I thought, was I not clear enough that I did not agree on this? That the pot of flowers was actually to thank us for something we don't even know yet & that our silence & accceptance maybe meant it was ok? Or because I was not snooping around enough while they were installing it & it meant it was ok? I clearly remember that she did not explain exactly what she wanted to do with her gutters, or if we didn't have time for her invitation, couldn't she tell us with the numerous times we bumped into her in front of our houses? Didn't she have to ask for our permission to freaking solve her balcony problem on the expense of our roof? I was really fuming mad. I have all the photos & references on laws specifically regarding gutters & rainwater drainage in case this gets bad when I finally speak to her. And we're not difficult people to talk to. We even thought it was their right to overhang their gutters on their wall on top of our roof but when I read about it, overhanging gutters on your property needs an official agreement with notarial documents. I'm convinced that they actually thought they can get away with it.
Eh voila, neighbors. Be distant, be nice, you're still screwed. There are many constraints for living in village houses & sharing walls. Even more if you get horrible neighbors. So, are the French right for putting up a house sign that says, "Private, distrurb a little?" I'm truly now more convinced & we've decided to have the same sign now, especially to our Swedish neighbor who got too close & overused our welcome. We just don't have the lucky hand with our neighbors.
Last month, my husband was speed controlled by our very own police neighbor for 90€.
Another normal scenario in a small village of France.
Damn, sue that bitch neighbor!!! GRRRRRR...
ReplyDeleteay , yay, yay! Ano ba yan? Nakakainis naman. Kumulo din dugo ko pagkabasa nito. What's your next move?
ReplyDeleteWhere else can you see this happening, diba?! What ticked me off really is how people can actually do something clearly wrong & not be ashamed about it.
ReplyDeleteI just wrote a letter (with a lot of effort to make it friendly) & try to resolve it amicably for now. I guess it's hte best way even if my teeth are gritting.
Hi Gina! So glad to see you here again. Hope all is well (and that you're lucky with your neighbors :)
that BITCH!!!!
ReplyDelete(do tell us what happens when she comes back...)
Even if she's Swedish am sure there are laws to follow between neighbors as well. She was way out of line ! Just don't forget all the docs, when she gets back you have all the necessary printed docs with you !
ReplyDeleteHAZE
mega pasaway naman yang neighbor na yan. there are a lot of people like that, beware!
ReplyDeleteana