We had a lovely family next door in the apartment on our floor. They were from Hong Kong and lived here since the building opened. The father was often absent, in Hong Kong I suppose, the son was about 12 when we moved here and we saw him grow up. The mother was very sweet and used to do ballroom dancing. She loved Latin dancing. At times there was another young male person but they changed every so often, so I guess student boarders.
Little did we know that the rented. They built a house in an outer suburb and were gone. Now we have a succession of Asian, probably mainland Chinese students, who keep changing.
It is not our fault that our barbeque is just one metre away from one of the bedroom windows. You could call it bad building design. If I thought no Asian student was in the room while we were barbecuing and the window was open, I might have reached out and closed the window.
But there has been a battle between us and one of the Asian students. We love sitting out on balcony and watching the world go by. I will call him Window Wanker. As soon as he hears our balcony door open, he closes his window. We were getting quite paranoid about this, not going outside when we wanted to.
Then there was my clarity of thought. We own the property we live in. We have lived here for nearly 18 years. We are older men. I am simply not going to be afraid to go out onto our own balcony because of a foreign Window Wanker student.
And then I was a bit naughty. I started opening the balcony door loudly and then closing it again at random. He quickly picked up that he was being played.
Last night I thought it was game on again, but no, after the first visit to the balcony and the window closed, then the blind went down.
I am so sorry that WW stopped you enjoying the amenities of your home. And hope that you can begin to enjoy YOUR balcony again.
ReplyDeleteSeems that we can for the last two evenings EC.
DeleteAnnoying neighbours hard to live with.
ReplyDeleteMerle..........
Merle, no nastiness, just problematic.
DeleteOh Andrew! We have a rental house next door. A few years back we had four young men renting and they had a Pitbull Dog that was terribly menacing. They also were not at all friendly, and had people come and go at all hours. If I was in the yard they made me feel quite vulnerable.
ReplyDeleteWell, I got tired of this, and so one day I started to sing. Sometimes it was Christmas Carols, sometimes it was a roaring rendition of "Killer Queen" by Queen! (I know all the words!)
At first they made fun of me, but I persisted with my singing, and eventually they stopped all together.
Then their dog crossed into my yard, I called the authorities and about a week later they were gone!
My voice is not that bad, but I think my perseverance and my not being afraid won the day!
And after all, who wouldn't like the song "Killer Queen"?
Haha Maribeth, you did the mad woman living next door. I don't need to know much more about them than that they had Pitbull.
DeleteSome people have no consideration of others. I hope you continue to enjoy using your balcony despite WW. We moved to the bush after years of living next door to a block of flats and enduring the antics of its occupants. Much better now.
ReplyDeleteCheryl, while I like the bush to visit, it is not for me. Most people in our apartment building are friendly and nice.
DeleteI rent this humble, small cabin/abode, and have done so for 17 years this coming April.
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about it is I have no nearby neighbours.
This rectangle piece of land is 3 acres (1.21 hectares)in area. My landlords' home is up one end of this slightly sloping block - quite a few metres away. This also makes me happy! Their home is barely visible by me. Trees, thankfully, interrupt the view. On one side of me, across the narrow lane, is a treed, vacant block of land...and similar surrounds surround. Other than my small abode, there are only four houses (all large homes) on this dead-end lane...up the other end.
I can see no houses. Those that are across the way are privately hidden away behind high trees/hedges.
I don't think I could handle having people living up close and personal...and hope I don't have to do so. It's been a long time since I've had neighbours only an arm length away.
Also, not that I've anything to hide, I wouldn't like anyone overhearing my conversations. Perhaps it's to your advantage the window is closed when you're out on your balcony. Is it possible...and allowable...to erect some kind of screening?
Lee, while I knew most of what you have written, I did not realise you have been there for 17 years. No, screening would not work at all. Perhaps he is worried about what we might hear from what is playing on his computer?
DeleteInvite him to a BBQ. He might not be as bad as you think. Then again.... - Ian
ReplyDeleteI don't think so Ian. A female has the master bedroom, with a walk in wardrobe and ensuite. The other two bedrooms are occupied by a tall stylish guy who would never smell of anything bad. The other is a sullen short arse. He also has the ability to close the window with his foot, which might be interesting if I had a foot fetish.
DeleteGosh he's got nothing to 'complain' about Andrew. it's not like he has music blaring out all over the neighbourhood or dogs barking - both of which drive me potty (and indoors) at time.
ReplyDeleteIts hard to know what's bothering him - maybe it's not that he is annoyed at you being there - possibly he's a vegetarian and doesn't like the smell of meat cooking, or maybe feels if he doesn't close the windows you might think he's sitting there taking in every word you say.
And of course - didn't everyone have their blinds down in the heat of yesterday ??
Au contraire Cathy, they open their windows to let a hot northerly wind blow in, never mind lowering blinds. Weird. As R says, they are effing weirdos.
DeleteDoes your area have tenant mediators or not. They might help both party come to agreement.
ReplyDeleteCoffee is on
Dora, it is a more formal than just mediators that we would use, but he will be gone soon enough and another new student will move in, hopefully not a Window Wanker.
DeleteI had a neighbour in Brighton who would complain about our BBQ; silly old bat.
ReplyDeleteCro, did she object to the smell of you frying brains on the barbeque?
DeleteFish.
DeleteI read your title and immediately thought of several neighbours I'd like to toss. I should probably read the rest of the post now.
ReplyDeleteRiver, so you have some, but you have some nice ones too.
DeleteHe's probably just an intensely private person, or just worried that you might accidentally see inside. Perhaps he dislikes being so close to neighbours and if that's the case, I know how he feels. I hate the idea of people being able to see in through my front window, so the awning is down as far as it can go all summer and in winter I keep the curtains closed with just enough gap to see out.
ReplyDeleteRiver, perhaps that is the case, but he must be very conflicted between wanting an open window and his privacy. Can people really see in through your windows? Have you checked?
DeleteI checked, and no in the daytime unless they are right up close, but at night with the lights on it may be easier to see in so I keep the curtains closed after the sun goes down.
DeleteAndrew, I see it both as a culture clash (not the right food aromas coming from your balcony) and also as a design fault. I know that barbies are part of Australian culture but to design high rise apartments all with balconies in close proximity to adjoining neighbours, then surely tempers will naturally fray. And those neighbours can only communicate by slamming windows and balcony doors.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that for the full on garden barbie one really needs to invest in a house or ground floor apartment with it's own garden. But you clearly chose the high rise option.
But I like Lee's idea of putting up some kind of screening. Perhaps festooned and covered in ivy. But then I don't know the layout of your balcony or how close your irritated neighbour is to you.
What with me living here on our top third floor I look down on several gardens, giving my neigbours no privacy at all.
Now if only I had my own balcony here I'm sure I'd turn it into the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
But I do wonder if you might look into the idea of screening off your neighbour with some D.I.Y and a bit of horticulture.
I did some wonderful designs for small space gardens back in the 1990's doing some freelance gardening in between jobs. You've seen what I can make with small spaces. My partner often tells me that I could turn a broom cupboard into a Palace.
Dee, we may barbeque twice a week, if that. I don't ever remember his window being open when we have barbequing happening. It is just not practical to put up screening, although I say that and I am thinking about it. We have neighbours across the road who we can see their every movement, like you can see down below your place.
DeleteAlso, our Owners' Corporation very much restricts what you can do with your balcony.
My brother lives on the top floor of seven stories and all of the larger apartments have built in barbecues, but they are placed against a solid wall so any neighbours on that side can't see and probably can't smell what might be getting cooked. I'll see if I have a picture to email you.
DeleteThanks River, and you did send me photos. A very nice place indeed.
DeleteYou have to have a small back yard that is private enough to entertain as you feel like. A porch, table, chairs, BBQ and umbrella should do the trick.
ReplyDeleteHels and Joseph
Hels and Jo, been there and done that, and at times R wishes we had a little courtyard again to entertain friends, except we no longer entertain friends.
DeleteBarbeque away Andrew, as you say it's only now and then. Maybe he's on a diet and the barbeque aromas drive him crazy with desire.. to eat 😉
ReplyDeleteGrace, nah. I reckon it is the smell of lamb chops cooking that does him in, along with some weird thing about privacy.
DeleteP.s. happy New Year to yourself and R. How is mum doing, still living with your brother?
ReplyDeleteThanks Grace. Yes, she is still there and is surreptitiously moving more and more things there from her house.
DeleteHe needs to behave himself. He's transient and young, won't be there long and hasn't learned yet how to get along, it seems. Use that balcony it is yours!
ReplyDeleteStrayer, he is transient and he is young, and hopefully he transients away very soon.
DeleteLooks like some passive aggressive thing going on here, maybe on both sides.
ReplyDeleteIf you can use your balcony, surely he can also open or close his window? I infer that you think he is doing so demonstratively, but couldn't that just a little bit be a projection of your annoyance that his conduct has made you self-conscious about a problem which in truth has always been there? What did previous occupants of the room do? Did they just always leave the window shut?
Neither a desire for privacy (not limited to if or when a wanker), a desire to open a window, a desire not to have bbq fumes or not to overhear neighbour's balcony activities strike me as at all weird.
Sadly it looks like that by now you've just managed to wind each other up, so I guess you'll just have to wait out the duration. He in his room will be sighing every time you emerge and slamming his window shut, and you will have to toughen up for a little implicit confrontation every time you go out there. It's a bit hard to see where the reset button can be.
Marcellous, it has become a passive aggressive thing on both sides. We've never had any issue with anyone in that room. Most people here use their air con and don't open windows. Oddly, the last student in the room was also a window opener. But he did not close the window when we were on the balcony.
DeleteOf course I don't want his room filled with smoke and fumes from our barbeque, and it hasn't happened. He never slams the window shut, just closes it. He just seems to dislike us being out on our balcony. We seem to invade his privacy. I am not so bothered really. He will move on soon enough. Well, I hope.
We have attempted to be friendly with them when we seem them in the lift etc, but honestly, I am not going to bother any more.