New driveway and neighbours not happy.

bouicca21

I had to read the whole thread twice because I couldn’t believe neighbours could be that petty and entitled. Dave’s list of bizarre requests got me even more bemused.

I’m assuming that requests for childcare mean that you are female. I can’t imagine asking for childcare from a male neighbour, though it’s weird enough to ask a female that one scarcely knows. So sexism is probably a factor in the bullying. How very dare you be better than a macho male breadwinner.

I am reminded of a friend who moved to a village and bought a large detached house. The neighbours had to invent a series of explanations as to why a single woman could afford or even want a 4 bed house. The explanations were colourful. The only possibility they missed was having a very senior well paid job, because obviously such jobs are not held by women.

MoneySeeker1

A good point that this may well be happening because OP is a woman.

I don't think many men come on here with equivalent problems somehow and that does indicate there are some very old-fashioned sexist neighbours around.

Davesnave

bouicca21 wrote: »

Dave’s list of bizarre requests got me even more bemused.

They certainly caught me off-guard and struggling for a suitable response, but although it felt like bullying, each was a seperate person/thing and I wouldn't say that was the motivation at all.

People just felt entitled to ask for favours I wouldn't dream of suggesting to someone I didn't know well. As a result, I felt guilty and a little embarrassed, even though there were good reasons to refuse. I found myself avoiding those individuals afterwards.

Ms_Chocaholic

MoneySeeker1 wrote: »

That's very much what I mean as to how to deal with them.

Mini-episode this morning - one of my bad neighbours glares at me as I walk past and I just looked "confident"/made sure I was standing upright (not hunched) and walked confidently past them and pretended I'd not noticed.

They are the ones likely to be "boiling over" emotionally and upsetting their blood pressure and I'm not.

Instead of feeling intimidated, can you stand tall, smile and say "good morning", it often gets people off guard. There's several people where I live that will cross the road when they see people coming to avoid them, I'm the first to smile and say good morning/afternoon/how are you - you're looking well :rotfl:

Barny1979

Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »

Instead of feeling intimidated, can you stand tall, smile and say "good morning", it often gets people off guard. There's several people where I live that will cross the road when they see people coming to avoid them, I'm the first to smile and say good morning/afternoon/how are you - you're looking well :rotfl:

Are they crossing the road to avoid you?

Ms_Chocaholic

Barny1979 wrote: »

Are they crossing the road to avoid you?

:rotfl:ha ha no, I was trying to be careful how to word that but they tend to avoid anyone

Mistral001

Is it a development/estate where there are rows of houses facing each other with a footpath in between them and the footpath leads to the public highway or carpark? In other words there are no cars to be seen at all in this green area between the rows of houses. This can look quite pleasant and many people like living in a totally car-free zone.

Barny1979

Mistral001 wrote: »

Is it a development/estate where there are rows of houses facing each other with a footpath in between them and the footpath leads to the public highway or carpark? In other words there are no cars to be seen at all in this green area between the rows of houses. This can look quite pleasant and many people like living in a totally car-free zone.

Sounds a well-established estate, so nope. If there was the highway or car park, you'd see cars?