New neighbours: an update

So this week son #1 came running in saying "Emily has just weed behind a bush and she does it all the time, and I am going to marry her". Whoop whoop, just the sort of classy girl I had in mind for a daughter-in-law.

The big fences have gone in, but they are not high enough for my neighbour who is really annoyed by the new neighbours, and he is planning to add trellises on top for maximum height! But to his vast annoyance Emily now hangs out of an upstairs window shouting at my boys, or she has figured out if she bounces really high in her trampoline she can still see them. The fences do help a bit but now we get shouting of "what are you doing? I can't see you?" which is still annoying!

Now the sun is out we are being treated to really loud Lithuanian europop, which while not being as annoying as hippety-hop or gangsta rap, is still annoying. Our neighbours were all really considerate of each other, while I would have loved to have a stereo in the garden blasting out music I never did as I know the neighbours like their peace (apart from the boys which I can't do much about!). But this lot don't give a hoot for anyone else. Living so close to other people is difficult, in London you can never get away from them, and if you get one lot of neighbours that are like that it really ruins your quality of life. I'm just thankful they aren't right next door. Our road had a load of elderly people living on it when we moved here and now they are either moving to retirement homes or off the mortal coil altogether, and I think we were a bit spoilt. I think we might move to a retirement complex next, who can turn down organised bingo and coffee mornings?!

New neighbours: the "highlights"

1. 1 week after moving in, 7 year old girl flashes her boobs at my 5 year old.

2. The weather is nice, all the washing is on the line, practically dry. They light up an extremely smoky bbq apparently directly aimed at our washing. Husband goes mental at them. They just look at him (probably didn't understand a lot of it, from Lithuania, but they definitely got the jist).

3. Week later, washing on line again. Bloke looks directly at it, then at me, then lights very smoky bbq. I say "are you having a bbq?" He grunts. I say for the second time "would you PLEASE tell me next time so my washing doesn't get ruined?". Another grunt which I take for "not on your nelly, I don't give two hoots for your washing".

4. Caught girl encouraging my 2 year old to let himself out of the garden and go to her house, only as he couldn't actually open the gate and was trying to climb over it. I said he was far too young and could she please not encourage him to leave the garden, to which I got loads of arguments. 

5. Now it's nice, the kids are out in the garden lots. Catch the girl telling my 2 year old he is a liar and encouraging him to repeat it. I ask her not to use words like that. Now I have to monitor the kids in the garden constantly, she is always saying things to them that aren't quite appropriate. She is older so my boys are in thrall to whatever she says. 5 year old now has constant attitude too.

6. Ask 5 year old if the girl has shown him her boobs recently. He pauses. "No," he says, much to my (short-lived) relief, "she showed me her bum".

The long and short of all this is that I can't leave the boys in their own garden unsupervised, and she keeps asking the boys over to her house, and I look like the bad guy when I keep saying no. Luckily the neighbour in the middle of all this REALLY hates them and is having 6 ft fences put up on their side this week so at least they won't be able to see her anymore!