kjs1628
Surely....
Aaaaggh! What to do about this, please???
We have an 'eccentric' neighbour - house hasn't been looked after for thirty years, garden so overgrown its brambles have become ours, single man of about 60. He's a nice enough bloke, never caused us any harm, but is ever so slightly bonkers. Generally speaking, we see him about once a month, have a polite conversation and then forget about him.
Recently, my husband ran into him and had a long conversation, during which Pat(the neighbour) told him he'd been involved in a nasty incident where he was brought down by a bloke while riding his bike, and then basically left unconscious in the park at closing time. Obviously, this is a horrible story, made particlularly sad by the fact that Pat had been laid up in bed for ten days without basics like bread and milk, and unable to get out.
We have often commented on the fact that he could die in his house (nice!) and noone would know (he has no visitors). So, we gave him our number and basically said to call if anything ever happened again and we would get shopping etc.
Yeah? we'd all do the same wouldn't we?
Well, he did phone - the next week. he'd fallen again, re-hurt his back and asked me to get him some medicines. I did this, all fine etc etc.
So what's the problem? The man has no sense of time. In the olden days, when I was a smoker, I'd occasionally find myself outside at silly-o'clock-in-the-morning and his lights would always be on. We think he pretty much sleeps in the day and wakes in the evening.
He's phoned us now three times, all after nine pm. Not a major issue, but we are Mr and Mrs early-to-bed. We have two young children and hard jobs, so we need our sleep. We are almost always in bed by ten.
Last night, my husband stayed up to watch the Peter Kay programme,and was just heading up to bed at 11.20, when the doorbell rang. Pat was there, and stayed on our doorstep for half an hour (too polite hubby!), talking VERY loudly about nothing. The bell had woken me up, so I was getting more and more worked up about him having the cheek to come round at that time. Plus, I was just waiting for one of the kids to wake up. My daughter is sleeping really badly at the mo - waking us up pretty much every night. A nightmare.
In the end, he left at 11.55, and I got myself worked up to such an extent that I was up until 2.30 wittling, and was then woken up at 4 by my daughter. So 3 hours sleep. Great.
How do we tell him to stay away after nine, without being rude. I DO feel sorry for him. I think he must be desperately lonely and don't want to be nasty to him. But he can't do this, can he? My friends don't call later than 9, let alone a virtual stranger.
I think I have a slight fear that he may be nasty to us if we upset him. He's odd enough that I don't want to make an enemy of him.
It is, of course, possible that he'll never call again, but I feel so angry and sad about it that I need a response if he does.
What would you say to him????
Thanks for reading, and please give me your opinion.
x
We have an 'eccentric' neighbour - house hasn't been looked after for thirty years, garden so overgrown its brambles have become ours, single man of about 60. He's a nice enough bloke, never caused us any harm, but is ever so slightly bonkers. Generally speaking, we see him about once a month, have a polite conversation and then forget about him.
Recently, my husband ran into him and had a long conversation, during which Pat(the neighbour) told him he'd been involved in a nasty incident where he was brought down by a bloke while riding his bike, and then basically left unconscious in the park at closing time. Obviously, this is a horrible story, made particlularly sad by the fact that Pat had been laid up in bed for ten days without basics like bread and milk, and unable to get out.
We have often commented on the fact that he could die in his house (nice!) and noone would know (he has no visitors). So, we gave him our number and basically said to call if anything ever happened again and we would get shopping etc.
Yeah? we'd all do the same wouldn't we?
Well, he did phone - the next week. he'd fallen again, re-hurt his back and asked me to get him some medicines. I did this, all fine etc etc.
So what's the problem? The man has no sense of time. In the olden days, when I was a smoker, I'd occasionally find myself outside at silly-o'clock-in-the-morning and his lights would always be on. We think he pretty much sleeps in the day and wakes in the evening.
He's phoned us now three times, all after nine pm. Not a major issue, but we are Mr and Mrs early-to-bed. We have two young children and hard jobs, so we need our sleep. We are almost always in bed by ten.
Last night, my husband stayed up to watch the Peter Kay programme,and was just heading up to bed at 11.20, when the doorbell rang. Pat was there, and stayed on our doorstep for half an hour (too polite hubby!), talking VERY loudly about nothing. The bell had woken me up, so I was getting more and more worked up about him having the cheek to come round at that time. Plus, I was just waiting for one of the kids to wake up. My daughter is sleeping really badly at the mo - waking us up pretty much every night. A nightmare.
In the end, he left at 11.55, and I got myself worked up to such an extent that I was up until 2.30 wittling, and was then woken up at 4 by my daughter. So 3 hours sleep. Great.
How do we tell him to stay away after nine, without being rude. I DO feel sorry for him. I think he must be desperately lonely and don't want to be nasty to him. But he can't do this, can he? My friends don't call later than 9, let alone a virtual stranger.
I think I have a slight fear that he may be nasty to us if we upset him. He's odd enough that I don't want to make an enemy of him.
It is, of course, possible that he'll never call again, but I feel so angry and sad about it that I need a response if he does.
What would you say to him????
Thanks for reading, and please give me your opinion.
x
