We have a new neighbour. She moved into the basement suite across the street a month or two ago, and although we haven’t yet seen her up close and personal, we have noted that she seems to be a twenty-something working girl. She lives in the suite with two – um – gentlemen of similar age. We won’t go into speculation regarding relationships and living arrangements.
Anyway, said Girl has an old green Pontiac. Kinda beat up. No hubcaps. Fine. Drive whatever works for you.
Problem: The Girl, from day one, has taken to parking in front of our house. Not off to the side. Not on the property line between our house and the next door neighbour’s. Directly in front of our house. This puzzles us for a few reasons.
1. We live on a busy street where vehicles drive pretty fast. Why Girl would want to cross that street every time she wants to get to her car is beyond us.
2. There is ample room to park in front of the house where she lives. Why Girl doesn’t park there is also beyond us.
3. There is a large driveway belonging to the house across the street. Currently it contains four vehicles belonging to the gentlemen Girl lives with. Only three are in working order. It would seem logical to dispose of the wrecks so Girl could park her car there.
(You may wonder how I know all this stuff. No, I am not a Peeping Tom. My desk just happens to face the window that looks across the street.)
While we understand that the street is city property and we can’t prevent other people from parking there, is there not such a thing as common courtesy? Would it not occur to Girl to take note that her neighbours have vehicles they would like to continue parking in front of their own homes? Would it not occur to her that, since she is the newbie on the block, she might want to find out if it’s okay to park in front of the neighbour’s house? And would it not also occur to Girl that the logical place to leave her car would be in front of her own place?
Yes folks, these are the questions we ask.
And in the light of eternity, this doesn’t matter a bit.
Inside the Writer 
Wendy,
Here are a couple of different suggestions for you:
1. Leave an envelope under the windshield wipers with a nasty note threatening to toilet paper her trees, dump some termites near the foundation of the house, or maybe even blow up her car if she does it again.
2. If the above suggestion seems too extreme, another possibility is to find a friend or family member with a second vehicle that they don’t use often, park it in front of your house for a week or two until she finds a new ‘spot’ and stops parking in front of your house… 🙂
p.s. on the topic of ‘neighbourly rants’… we had someone come by with silly string last night and spray it all over the front of our church building. Who does that??
Have a great rest of your day Wendy!
Chris, believe me, we have considered the nasty note on the windshield many times, but . . . doesn’t send a very good message. Last night Jordan came home from work after midnight. It’s garbage day today, so she put our trash containers right beside Girl’s car door. Girl had to move them to get into her car this morning. And I am going to move my car from our driveway in the back and park it in the front today. We can never seem to catch her to talk to her. Oh, and that’s terrible about the silly string and the church.
Just thought I’d add a little disclaimer here and say that the nasty note suggestion was tongue-in-cheek… just in case any authorities read the post and accuse me of promoting terrorism… 🙂
Thanks for clarifying!
Wendy, you’re right, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter a bit. But it’s still inconsiderate and irritating, and Chris and I understand totally. In our neighborhood, most of the houses don’t have garages or driveways, so it’s all street parking. You can appreciate with lots of folks living in and visiting the area, well, cars end up all over the place, including in front of our house. And, yes, it ticks me off plenty, particularly when I drive up and have to park in front of someone else’s house. I’m sure they don’t appreciate me being there either.
The only reason I can think of why Girl parks in front of your house is because, on her way back from wherever she’s been, she approaches where she lives on your side of the street. It’s just easier for her to park across from where she lives (in front of your house) than it is to do a three-point turnabout and park where she logically should. I know, I know. She’s lazy, but there are lots of lazy young (and older) people, who don’t give a rat’s you-know-what when it comes to the neighbors. That’s just the way it is.
Anyway, that’s my two cents worth.
I know, I know, but now it’s become the principle of the thing.
Oh My…. I think we have the same neighbors.
Ours have taken to renting ‘rooms’. The average from them is now up to 11 cars at any given time. Combined with new neighbors across street with an abundance of vehicles and the people next door to our right who have a six car driveway and still park four cars on the street.
Like you… putting garbage out has become a struggle along with just backing out of our driveway. Having company is a whole other issue.
We used to live in a quiet neighborhood. I feel your pain.
(Sorry if this came across as whining.)
Wow! Can’t you report them to your city hall or something? There is usually a limit as to how many rooms you can rent out in your house, and your neighbors may not even legally be able to do so. Like yours, our neighborhood used to be a quiet one. Not so much anymore.