Monday, June 15, 2009

Nervous

I got woken up at 5.40am yesterday morning by my neighbour getting into her car and running her engine before driving off. She hand her partner both have cars and they had parked one of them in the space right in front of my bedroom window because that neighbour isn’t about very much. So going out at 5.40am she woke me up, which is annoying in itself, but even more so given that she shouldn’t have been parked there in the first place.

She and her partner have lots of visitors. My neighbour who lives above me thinks that the chap is a drug dealer. I’m not convinced by that, but he certainly gets an awful lot of visitors, some of whom stay for only a very short amount of time. The constant stream of people also often means that the visitors park their cars in my upstairs neighbour’s parking space because she is not around a lot. So sometimes my neighbour has to block my car in or ask me to move mine so she can fit hers in as well. They are nice people, but the amount of parking they take up really drives me mad. It’s always the petty things that cause the problems…

Anyway, I decided that being woken up at 5.40am (again!) was enough reason to mention it to them. But I wasn’t brave enough to knock on their door and speak to them. They are very nice people, but I didn’t want to have the conversation. So I wrote them a very polite and slightly apologetic note and asked them if they could park elsewhere, as they keep waking me up and also our parking spaces keep getting used.

I don’t know if it will have any impact, but I have wanted to say something for ages and have finally done so. But now I feel like I need to sneak about in case I bump into them. I made sure I had put my rubbish out before I put the note through their door, in case I bumped into them later!

I find confrontation a difficult thing. At times I can be very bolshy – my last boss would testify to this! – but in situations like this, I am not bold at all and try and avoid the situation, even if it really bothers me. I am hoping that it doesn’t negatively affect things with my neighbours, but given that at some point someone will be moving into the empty flat next door, the situation will get worse then, so I wanted to speak up. I was also quite tired from being woken up so early, which may also have made me reach the point where I had to say something. But I do still feel kind of nervous about it...

8 comments:

(no subject) said...

i'm very sorry that you've had to deal with that. i would definitely be upset too!
and i'm very much like that as well. when i am in a position where i need to be authoritative and not take sh*t from people i can be very confident but when it's just people on the street or neighbors i'm always really nervous and less than confident. just remember that you have the right to sleep soundly and that you aren't doing anything wrong.
i hope it all works out for you!

DAB said...

Earplugs? No maybe not. Best to air your views in the long run. Good luck. TFx

Kahless said...

Eeek. Snap.

Happened to me about 6 months.

Our neighbours and us seem to just avoid eachother now. But at least they dont park on our drive any more (which used to get our dogs barking like crazy.)

Good luck.

And well done for standing up for yourself.

Random Reflections said...

no subject - The woman has been very diligent about moving her car today. her partner has been a bit more surly I think. I will just keep out of their way, but it does seem to have made a difference.

TF - I was thinking more of a high powered rifle.

Kahless - your neighbours parked on your drive?? the woman is very jumpy anyway, so I think she will just run away every time I see her.

If it works I am kind of glad I did it, but we'll see if they stick to their side of it. It took me ages to pluck up the courage to say anything.

jumpinginpuddles said...

I think this can be a very good way of starting to resolve a issue but less aggresively good luck

Random Reflections said...

jip - I did try and make the note very friendly. The woman is very shy though and I suspect will avoid me from now on!

DAB said...

Russian roulette! ;-) TFx

Random Reflections said...

TF - only if there was no risk they might turn the gun on me...