Wow. I've heard plenty of cases of neighbors who aren't particularly fond of each other, but one scuffle that went down between two men in Australia brings the battle over property lines to a whole new level.
Apparently they had a huge fight over -- wait for it -- "loud music and reckless driving," which ended with one of the men going over to the other's house with a chainsaw! In self defense, the other man grabbed a samurai sword he had in his home, and the two began attacking each other. One of them was left with his arm nearly severed, and the other had his finger chopped off. (Gross!)
And no, this story isn't some weird and twisted figment of my imagination -- because you really can't make stuff like this up. (Or at least I'm not that creative.)
The odds of battles between neighbors winding up bloody are pretty slim, but I can understand how things can get a bit heated when common courtesies are ignored.
He's since moved away (thank GOD), but the guy who used to live next door to me used to drive me absolutely bananas. He was a really nice guy and all, but he was totally OCD about keeping his lawn and the exterior of his home in meticulous condition, which resulted in hearing the hum of lawnmowers, weed wackers, and chainsaws (yikes), all day long, and sometimes into the wee hours of the night. And then when the weather turned colder and it would start to snow? This dude would get up at like 2 a.m. to go out and snow blow his driveway. Did I mention that his driveway is on the same side of the house as my master bedroom? Not gonna lie -- I threatened to go outside and run him over with his stupid snow blower on more than one occasion. (Just ask my husband.)
Of course, being the super sweet and considerate neighbor that I am -- I never actually said anything to him. I was always pleasant whenever we ran into each other, and after hearing about this crazy showdown in Australia, I'm glad I kept my mouth shut. (Remember I said he had a chainsaw?!)
It's better to be calm and civil and put up with a few noisy inconveniences than to get into a wild argument that might have a much worse outcome than expected.
Do you like your neighbors, or have you gotten into arguments with them?
Image via NNECAPA/Flickr
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Comments 16
I'm not above talking to a n'bor abt their behavior though, especially excessive behavior, like snowblowing at 2am. You never know, maybe if you had politely talked to him abt it, or had ur hubby do it, he might have been more thoughtful. If you don't say anything, they may not realize how much it bothers you.
ok im speechless
Another ditzy article about a serious subject by the bad staff at Cafe Mom.
thank goodness we get along with ours!
As someone from Upstate NY, I know that waiting until 7am to snowblow can mean a difference in FEET of snow. In other words, it might be next to impossible to snowblow everything at once in the morning. A smart person goes out several times during a storm to keep the snow from building up.
Wow, that is a bit overboard, if I may say so myself. I lived in my house for about 33 yrs, and I never had any problems with my n'bors. It just pays to be respectful to everyone arond, or next to your house, b/c no one knows when someone can just go off. We did live on a corner, and had a garage next to us, and 1 house behind us. Then we moved into an apartment, and the tenant on the 1st floor was a bit annoying. He would always have loud music, and slammed the door downstairs when going out. No one was supposed to use the garage, but he would do it regardless. since there wasn't any parking allowed on our side of the street, we wopuld just park there just to take graoceries up (42 stairs). We moved before the year was out, but that was b/c of the stairs. My landlady lives on the 1st floor, and we knew her b/4 we moved in, b/c she lived around the block from our old house. She never bothers us, however she'sa a little hard of hearing, and often talks loud, but that's understandable.