Idiots Living Oposite Me

[2long]

I began reading this thread because I, too, have one w*nker neighbour.

Being nice often doesn't work and WHY should we be nice when they're such a-holes? (That is ONE Thai way)

The thought of fighting fire with fire (playing loud music back etc) is not fair on all the other good neighbours. (that's ANOTHER Thai way)

Accepting it but not liking it and not wanting to make a scene appears to be the most popular Thai way in my experience.

Onnut has failed to post any pictures and mentioned that he has TWO cars and work being done on his house. This leads me to presume that there's a fair bit of noise and he's taking up street space (albeit outside his own gaff) that is on a public road. The ladies would be taking up space if they still had their motor. Let's face it, there are plenty of members, me included, who just don't want vehicles parked outside their houses by neighbours. So, why NOT block the parking space with an obstacle? We only have Onnut's opinion that it was done to piss him off. It may be that he was reversing or swinging in (no, not that kind) on the bit of road outside their house, or even dare I say it, parking there once in a while when builders trucks were around.

Just this week a new neighbour (luckily the wife of a friend) starting parking her car right outside my house because their side of the road is hot. We have the shade of the buildings and a tree. I soon got it moved and my wife deliberatley parked a motorbike outside just to stop her.

So, most of us sypathize with Onnut, but some more honesty (to oneself) or a photo might help our understanding.

[Heng]

True, the plant does seem rude, but is it really any more inconvenient than anyone else parking there?

[DocStrangelove]

Just this week a new neighbour (luckily the wife of a friend) starting parking her car right outside my house because their side of the road is hot. We have the shade of the buildings and a tree. I soon got it moved and my wife deliberatley parked a motorbike outside just to stop her.

The road is the road. Any declaration of ownership is arbitrary.

[Insight]

And can you guys please get off the superstition nonsense? You are going to dress like a ghost and scare them into moving the plant? This is real life not an episode of a terrible Nickelodeon tv show.

As any long-term expat will tell you, every day here has much in common with "episode of a terrible Nickelodeon tv show"

Take the subject matter of this thread for example - two women rolling a plant pot into the middle of a street, and the now monumental (and now very public) efforts to resolve it.

[Flatouthruthefog]

True, the plant does seem rude, but is it really any more inconvenient than anyone else parking there?

I usually try hard to be constructive and helpful on the rare occasions I respond. But this 'storm in a plant pot' has me beat.

Come on, OP! Sort it out and stop being a 10-point-turning wimp!!

And if you can't organise a solution (sulphuric acid is one) then get out of that miserable-sounding cul-de-sac-existence, get up here to Chiang Mai and get a life!

[moe666]

Move the plant into your yard for decoration, or move it into their drive way and crack the pot with a hammer and when the try to move it back it will come apart.

just do something. Push it aside with your cars bumper if it breaks to bad. Move it all the way to the end of the soi so it is out of the way. Do something.

You have tons of ideas but nothing has happened.

Do something.

[Joints]

I got it!

During the night you cut the head off their horse and sneak in to their bedroom and put it next to them. That will surely freak them out

[ronz28]

I would pay someone to haul it away in the middle of the night. If caught, they could just say it appeared to be abandoned since it was in the road so they are just donating it to the Wat.

[ballzafire]

I live on a dead end soi on the edge of a moo bahn in Bangkok. When I want to park my car in my driveway I pull up and reverse it in, but now I cannot do this because of the two old women living in the house oposite me have blocked there front with a large plant on a concrete pot. They have placed this plant there to be awkward just because they fell out with my wife. The reason they fell out is because we heard from other people on our soi that these two women have been saying nasty things about my wife and her family who stay with us. Not sure what they were saying and I couldn't care less. We were all friends at first but then we heard what they were saying and we just stopped speaking with them, I think my wife told them why we are no longer talking to them. And ever since they sold there car they have blocked this small area off with this plant. By the way, it is on the road and it's not there land. It's really anoying as now I have to do a ten point turn to get the car in. We have two cars and the other on is parked out the front of our house. I have moved the pot only for them to put it further out in the middle of the soi. I am thinking of just smashing it up but I think that will just giveus more problems. Do you guys have any ideas that I could try?

Write Ann Landers...

[RubbaJohnny]

Is this tale a plant

Hire a couple of gr8 Danes disguised as Arabs inside a camel suit

One at fromnt has the weedkiller in and one at rear the Kool Aid for the Old Dears

Dont forget the webcam sounds like youve the makings of a nightly Neighbours style soap?

Hong and Away etc

I hope youl see the funny side when he fire truck cannot reach there house

Thats why grumpy old gits like me rather live in detached rural slum than the spohisticated sois

PS Print 100 cards with map of POTsaying its experimental herbal weed for athritic old ladies and distribute cards in Bagpacker hovels of BanShampoo'ha

CowsArse Rd. The Trustafarian and their feral kaoey'r'us will pinch sell it and well all ahve ahoot

[sassienie]

Update!!!!

The poo yai guy visited them to see what the problem is.

One old lady started shouting and saying that I am a falang and have no say in where she puts the pot and it is there on purpose to make it hard for me to park my car. The poo yai guy was cool, he looked like a biker and scared the he'll out of me when he turned up as I thought they had called some heavys to sort me out out. Ha ha

He told them they can have a pot outside there house but it has to be on the pavement and not the road. Man the women were angry, I wonder if they will try something else? Probably. Ah well, it's all good fun for you lot to read this.

he told my wife if the pot is still there tomorrow he will go see them again.

One old lady said she couldn't believe that I have any rights even though my wife and I own the house. Some people are so rude.

Sorry but I find this hard to believe. I have lived in Thailand on and off for the last 20 years and permanently for the last 6 years in a village that is all Thai and never experienced any such prejudice as you describe.

If this is fact, than something must of happened to wind the old ladies up. Also under Thai law, you do not own the house you live in. Plus to a point it is as the old ladies mentioned, you do not any rights over the property.

All my neighbours have accepted me as one of the locals, kind, sincere and considerate, as are most Thais, if they are treated with respect.

Edited October 30, 2009 by sassienie

[Tim207]

If this is fact, than something must of happened to wind the old ladies up.

Some people wind themselves up where money is concerned. Remember that they seemed to be angling to get some money for babysitting. When that event turned unlikely they may have felt like they were losing the money that they were already counting on and lashed out with gossip. Things then escalated when they were confronted about the gossip. When the propper step was taken by calling in the authority the only card they had to play was that the OP was just a foreigner so the authority HAD to side with the citizen. I can see this happening in any country. In every country some people think that foreigners should have less rights in legal disputes than citizens.

My MIL is currently dealing with a neighbor like this so it isn't as unusual as you might think. How the neighbor got so wound up? The MIL helped her borrow some money by using the MIL 's motorbike as collateral. The dispute came when after paying back the amount borrowed she didn't think it was fair that she also had to pay the late fee on the loan(she paid late). The MIL insisted she pay all the costs of the loan. That was all it took. Her family is now forbidden from speaking to our family. Her latest stunt was piling up a bunch of rotten smelly garbage under the window of the MIL's house.

This used to be a good friend of hers. Over the years I have loaned her money, we have taken her grandkids with us on outings, bought them gifts, and done countless other things for the whole family. I am even the one they run to when there is a snake in the house but now they can't even acknowledge a hello.

The OP's story doesn't surprise me a bit.

[Heng]

What can the old ladies do if the pot is moved or destroyed in a retaliatory strike? It's really all for nothing if they just find someone else to park a car there. What are the odds that a couple of poor Thais have family access to a beat up nearly broken down truck with no other use?

[ThailandLovr]

<snip>

My MIL is currently dealing with a neighbor like this so it isn't as unusual as you might think. How the neighbor got so wound up? The MIL helped her borrow some money by using the MIL 's motorbike as collateral. The dispute came when after paying back the amount borrowed she didn't think it was fair that she also had to pay the late fee on the loan(she paid late). The MIL insisted she pay all the costs of the loan. That was all it took. Her family is now forbidden from speaking to our family. Her latest stunt was piling up a bunch of rotten smelly garbage under the window of the MIL's house.

This used to be a good friend of hers. Over the years I have loaned her money, we have taken her grandkids with us on outings, bought them gifts, and done countless other things for the whole family. I am even the one they run to when there is a snake in the house but now they can't even acknowledge a hello.

The OP's story doesn't surprise me a bit.

I've got a reverse slant story about good friend neighbor-turned enemy. While I was courting my ex-wife, the MIL's neighbor saw my wife openly two-timing me, screwing other farang men and flaunting it (I found out later). I had previously met the old neighbor lady and she liked me a lot. After she found out she refused to have anything further to do with the MIL, who evidently was encouraging the cheating for financial gain. But the MIL commenced doing nasty things to the old woman who eventually moved elsewhere. Some people do uphold standards of decency here.

Edited October 31, 2009 by ThailandLovr

[Tim207]

I've got a reverse slant story about good friend neighbor-turned enemy. While I was courting my ex-wife, the MIL's neighbor saw my wife openly two-timing me, screwing other farang men and flaunting it (I found out later). I had previously met the old neighbor lady and she liked me a lot. After she found out she refused to have anything further to do with the MIL, who evidently was encouraging the cheating for financial gain. But the MIL commenced doing nasty things to the old woman who eventually moved elsewhere. Some people do uphold standards of decency here.

That is actually pretty common too. There are those about that we (and others in the village) will not have anything to do with because of the way boyfriends are treated. Can't say anything like that would be the cause in my situation as the MIL has actually been the ex-MIL for several years and my ex can do as she pleases. Between that and the fact that even when alone, I am ignored by the neighbor, her daughters, and her grand daughters, gives me a pretty good idea that they are not taking my side in some dispute.

[ThailandLovr]

I assume the pot is still there or the OP would have told us.

OP, this crap needs to stop TODAY! Come hel_l or high water, as my Dad used to say.

Hopefully you are on the phone again to the poo yai as we speak. They get up early here. Have a few beers, take some blue bills, whatever, but you need to strengthen your balls to end this craziness today! The old women already admitted to the poo yai they were doing this just to be nasty.

If all else fails, move the pot yourself repeatedly but accept no more of this indignity!

Edited October 31, 2009 by ThailandLovr

[Maejo Man]

Having read the thread with amusement, I would suggest plain simple honey. A woman who works in a shop at the end of my soi started to park her car opposite my front gate, making it almost impossible to get into my driveway without doing "an OP 10 point turn". One evening when I saw her parking there, I politely asked her in Thai if she would mind parking further up the soi closer to the shop, so that I could drive in to my driveway. All I got was a scornful stare, a flick of the head and she walked off.

Ok if that's the way you want to play the game, you're on. I then sat and thought of all the things I could do to persuade her to park elsewhere. Half of them have already been mentioned here. Then I hit on the idea of honey on the windscreen. No damage, and it could well have been sap from the trees I have on the front of the garden.

Honey was duely squirted on that night. I didn't hear her come back, but her car was there again the next night, so another dose. It took three days for her to realise that it was not a good place to park anymore.

I would suggest the same with your pot. First move it to where it is not in the way, and liberally lace it with honey. Attracts all the nice little creepy crawlies, and makes it very nasty to pick up and move again.

Simple and harmless

[onnut]

As I said I cannot upload a photo. I have just e mailed a birds eye view to one of my mates and they will post it for me.

The pot is still there!!!!!

And the old lady started shouting at my wife this morning for calling the poo yai. Wifey completly ignored her and carried on with what she was doing.

I will post more at lunch as I am too hung over from my weekly Friday night in Silom.

[Heng]

Honey is creative... the mechanics that work for us are suggesting brake fluid. Supposedly strips the paint if not washed off quickly. Some others suggested excrement. And these are just typical day to day working hard but not smart working locals. These are the sort of minds you're possibly going up against, hint hint.

[onnut]

Maejo man, now that is one good idea, honey. That's the one. Tonight if they have not moved the pot I will move it once there lights are off and smeer with honey. Just picture all the red ants climing all over the pot.

Let's hope the old bags don't move it in today.

[Heng]

Chess move counter move prediction... ant spray to kill ants. Move pot a little further out to continue to annoy you. Cover plant with even more honey to attract even more ants. Your turn.

[Maejo Man]

Maejo man, now that is one good idea, honey. That's the one. Tonight if they have not moved the pot I will move it once there lights are off and smeer with honey. Just picture all the red ants climing all over the pot.

Let's hope the old bags don't move it in today.

It took me a long time to figure out something that was harmless, yet effective. Please keep us posted

[ThailandLovr]

You ARE still going to call the poo yai again aren't you? He said he would come out again if the pot was not moved. This is still the best route for you. Otherwise this will turn into an endless pissing match (I don't think honey will win out).

Edited October 31, 2009 by ThailandLovr

[vagabond48]

2long has a valid point. Absent any photos, one can't see the complete picture. I have only lived in Chiang Mai city and without a car so I don't know what etiquette is used for parking on public streets in these type of neighborhoods. What if a vehicle(s) was parked outside the annoyed neighbors that was either theirs or had their approval, would that have created a similar issue for the OP and would they be within their rights?

Edited October 31, 2009 by vagabond48

[TomBombadil]

The poo yai baan will probably do nothing more than speak with them one or two more times. And it looks like they are eager expecting some action from you.

Many suggestions here can backfire. They can use honey as well, on OPs car for instance...Heng is also right about the superstition plans, that's really ridiculous and totally easy to know what OP is up to.

Better try to get along with them by inviting them for dinner, make a present or similar. 2nd best: remove the pot until they are tired of removing it back. 3rd: Make nothing, ignore them and the pot.

[Heng]

The poo yai baan will probably do nothing more than speak with them one or two more times. And it looks like they are eager expecting some action from you.

Many suggestions here can backfire. They can use honey as well, on OPs car for instance...Heng is also right about the superstition plans, that's really ridiculous and totally easy to know what OP is up to.

Better try to get along with them by inviting them for dinner, make a present or similar. 2nd best: remove the pot until they are tired of removing it back. 3rd: Make nothing, ignore them and the pot.

Yeah, pretty much my take. Only I'd make it 1) move it until they are tired of moving back and 2) ignore them and the pot. They can't FORCE you to be annoyed. Only you can do that. No dinner invitation for me, I'd say your odds are about as good as inviting the homecoming queen on a date because apparently that's who they think they are.

[threelegcowboy]

I think this method has not been discussed.

The Soi is narrow and your neighbor is using her side of the road to the max. Also use your side of the road to the max.

One way is to get an old car and park out front of your driveway. The point is to make the Soi impassable. Make sure the car can not be moved. Then take a few days away from home.

The neighbors that have to drive past will move the pot to another location. Peer pressure should prevail to solve this proble.

LLL

[onnut]

I said to my wife yesterday that we should buy them a basket or something to just solve this in a good way. But these old gals have really got on my wifes nerves so she will not do that. She said she thinks it would be better to but the poo yai something.

Also my nanny is from Burma and does not have papers YET. We are in the process of doing it. One of the ladies told the poo yai she knows this and is going to call the police! No big deal as I do know the chief of police who knows about my nanny and has been kind enough to help us with getting the right paperwork.

Now before anyone says why don't I use the copper against these old ladies, please realize that it would be very embarrasing to call him to help move a pot. I would feel a &lt;deleted&gt;.

But if I go and piss these old dears off I reckon they will try to get the nanny in the shit.

[onnut]

I think this method has not been discussed.

The Soi is narrow and your neighbor is using her side of the road to the max. Also use your side of the road to the max.

One way is to get an old car and park out front of your driveway. The point is to make the Soi impassable. Make sure the car can not be moved. Then take a few days away from home.

The neighbors that have to drive past will move the pot to another location. Peer pressure should prevail to solve this proble.

LLL

my house is at the end of a dead end dude! Good idea though.

[jubby]

I'd say try to learn to live with it if at all possible. If it is an obstruction and based on my limited experience a collision between the Pot and a Motorbike or Car being driven by a drunk is inevitable in the short term.

If you have to take action then a rear shunt with a small scratch to your bumber by mistake will likely sort it out. Give them the paint repair bill also. Photo before and after the event also.