Yes he is little and when I said to the Deputy Maire that he was like Napoleon she laughed especially as my name is Josephine!!
My lovely Deputy Marie said that we live in the country, dogs bark. I don't like it if they bark seemingly for nothing but that is rare. I do hope you resolve your problem soon. I am waiting for him to come over and complain and carry my little recorder everywhere it is only about 1" x 3" x 1/2" so fits in any pocket. Please speak to yours for peace of mind.
I lived next to one here. She was Welsh & tried to make our life hell over a bit of garden she agreed to sell us & a right of way to her land. In the end she sold us the garden less 6m to give her access to her land which she subsequently sold as a building plot. She put the mockers on a sale of our house because she wanted it & eventually bought it off us for 20,000E more than we had previously asked. Her French lap dog husband used to harass my missus whenever I went out until I dragged him out of his car & threatened to punch his lights out. She has tried to resell the house for the last 6 years but it's not very saleable because it's got a small garden thanks to her originally cheating us. What a shame. :-)
They seem to be everywhere, Vic, judging by Josephine's post. Irritating little buggers, much like mosquitoes and cockroaches ...
OMG Josephine!!! You're in a worse situation than I am but, my goodness, doesn't it sound familiar?? And another English part timer! Is there a pattern here that perhaps those who come over on vacation expect more because it's their holiday time than those who live/work/raise kids for whom this is just normal life? No, mine don't bark at night unless obviously they hear something outside the house so I would say 99% of the time they're simply asleep when we are. Pillock simply seems not to like any animals or noise that disturbs his peace. If I put duct tape around the dogs' muzzles the next complaint would probably be he can hear the chinking from the kitchen when I'm stirring my tea.
Your voice recorder idea sounds a good one to me. If he's prone to exaggeration/lying which these idiots seem to be, you'll have indisputable evidence that I'm sure your Maire would find rather interesting. Go for it.
I love positive thoughts Roger. If Karma is listening and totting them up, he might get a big bite in the ...
Awww, you're nice Rosie. Yes, we do try to ensure we don't upset anyone, we just want to fit in, settle down and get on with it. The barking collars should arrive soon (I hope!) as that's another step towards stopping the 10 minutes of nonsense if I need to pop to the supermarket etc. It's not for Pillock's benefit - I didn't want the other neighbours to have to put up with it so there has been an ongoing series of things we're trying to see what works best. My little boy loves having a garden at last and his animals so it was just a knee-jerk overreaction emotionally on my part really when I thought of him losing his best buds. Now that I'm back to 'normal' (if I ever was) if he says he's going to the gendarmes etc I'll offer to drive him.
I hate bullies with a vengeance! Maybe we should start a roving SFN Posse & visit these cowards to "have a word in their 'shell likes'". Don't let 'em get to you girls. Tell 'em where to go. :-)
Wow I am not alone, I have been going through exactly the same scenario as you. I have a part time English neighbour who has verbally harassed me and threatened me about my dogs. Again he is well known in the village and the English people living here have never seen this side of him and he employs a lot of them to work on his property. I also live beside a road where people walk past, the dogs bark, there is a wandering dog which comes to see my dogs and they bark with tails wagging. The neighbour has hammered on my gate making the dogs bark more, shouted at me, left a note (unsigned) when I have gone out. I have had friends here when he has come over and they cannot understand what he is talking about as the dogs do not bark all the time and never at night. I have put up with his ongoing building work for 18 months, music blaring when he is here, a bonfire on a Sunday in mid July and have only been able to enjoy my garden at lunchtimes and weekends when his builders aren't here. I bought a small voice recorder which I am going to hold up when he next comes over. After receiving advice from a number of people I went to see the Maire yesterday and I asked the Deputy what the law was regarding dogs barking in the village. She said that dogs should not bark after 10pm to 7am but other than that there is no problem. If someone walks past and they bark they are doing their job. She said that if he complains again then I should tell him to visit her which I will do. I was worried he could call in the gendarmes and they would shoot the dogs but the Maire said non non non. Last night I had a really good sleep for the first time for ages and my nerves have been completely shot. Again my neighbour wouldn't have said anything were I French, a male or had a male here. He found that he could bully me and as I am non confrontational I will not retaliate. However now I know the law and have my recorder I am waiting for him to come over and I will stick the recorder in his face and tell him to go to the Maire. You are in a better position as you have a French neighbour and an English one on your side. So please go to the Maire and ask him/her the law and explain what is happening, I know it is difficult to do but if you do it in a friendly chatty way you will have them on your side. So sorry you have had to go through this I know exactly how you feel, as I said to my friend, it takes the smile off living here.
This is the first I've seen of this. Not much I can do except send positive thoughts - for what that's worth! :-)
Dear Valerie, I don't wish to probe too much, but this jerk is a bully. However, bullies are cowards, and if he threatened to have your animals seized he would have to have a very strong reason for doing so, and presumably approach the gendarmes/ local mayor. I imagine that if push came to shove he hopefully would back down. If this daft man wants complete silence when living in a village, he is mistaken, unless he permanently wears ear plugs ! Sadly the World is full of mini Hitlers, who think that others should bow down to them and obey their every whim. Take heart and keep your chin up ! You sound such a nice person, who like me is quite content to live in France, abide by the laws and make a decent life. I hope everything works out well for you, your dogs, cats and little son.
Thank you ladies - the offer of the book and the inspiration from Debra's post, I'm think a cockerel and a few hens wouldn't go amiss, I could throw chicken poop at him, all made me laugh.
Today was a good day. Just as Binka the cat and I were in the driveway ready to go to the vet an English neighbour pitched up at the gate apologising if he was making me late but he just wanted to say something. My lovely French neighbour had apparently spoken to him - she was worried she'd got confused as she doesn't speak English and my French is hopeless - but he said he knew what she was about to say. She was concerned about me. I love her. Anyway, turns out he was coming round anyway as he his wife had told him I was upset last week. They only moved in a few weeks ago so are still getting to know everyone but the Pillock, immediately on his arrival last week, had gone round demanding to know if a cat near their porch was theirs as it was going on his driveway and 'making a mess'. So it's not only me!! Wheeeeee!!! Pillock had also gone on about the dogs, saying they're barking all the time but Nice Neighbour, not Pillock, said no they don't, it seems to be if someone walks past or I go out in which case it's for 10 minutes which isn't a problem. Pillock was oh no it's not, it's 20 or 30 minutes but Nice Neighbour said no, actually it's 10 minutes because I timed it. And then told him to do one! I never knew all this - I think it's hysterical.
Anyway, much reassured girlie here. Lovely French lady is totally unimpressed and Nice Neighbour and his wife seem to have my back. I told Nice Neighbour the anti-barking collars should hopefully arrive this week although he thought they were unnecessary as it's short bursts but I said I was trying to calm them down for everyone's benefit and it wasn't because of Pillock. He said Pillock is, and I quote "a pompous ass who thinks he's better educated than anyone else" but "all he is is a bully". Another wheeeeeeee.
Those sounds you've described sound to me like heaven! I would gladly trade them in for all the sirens, and people doing 50MPH down our side street, (off Sunset Bl. in Hollywood), to get to the other busy street down the end of our block. Cows mooing and donkeys Braying? Kids playing and laughing? All that's missing is a rooster crow at daybreak. I'd love it! This pillock should go and live on a couple of acres in the mountains, maybe in a cave.
I can't stand it when someone moves to an area, be it a new country, a new neighborhood, or whatever, and expect everyone else to modify life to suit him/her! What could change his point of view, (realizing that he's the problem, not others who have perfectly normal behavior)? Perhaps a book on how to integrate into a new situation/area left anonymously on his doorstep? There's a book for everything! That would be loads of laughs. Perhaps rallying the other neighbors to laugh at his absurdity? This guy needs to be set straight, I know you'd be putting yourself and family at risk if you did anything yourself. Wish I could do something to help. I guess just supporting your view might help, I hope so. Courage, et bon chance, as they say over there.
Actually, he sounds like he just hates life. I'd hate to be him, poor ol' sod :(
My lovely French lady just called over the fence to find out how Binka is doing (she's a cat lady and was upset when Bink had to go on a drip for 6 days). I told her he hates me because of the medicine and she loved it.
Anyway, she then pointed towards the Pillock's house and did a shrug so I took that as an invitation. My French is appalling so I hope I didn't say anything misleading in translation but said in simple words that he wants the dogs taken, that is the only solution acceptable to him and he doesn't like the cats traversing his garden. She added that he doesn't like children and said what about the black Labrador in the garden behind? I said that he had said perhaps it would be dead by the time he arrives (I added 'perhaps because he is old' to make sure she knew I meant by natural causes, not by any threat from him). She looked quite disgusted. I said I thought he hadn't spoken to the French neighbours, only the English, and she mentioned one English name as a possibility. She said the dogs are not a problem, yes they bark when I go out sometimes but then just stop until they hear the car come back (I told her I have bark collars arriving and she said good idea) they're good dogs and (I think) he can do nothing (something about 'fait rien'). She did a pffffffft in his direction and told me about her forthcoming holiday.
Feel a sense of relief at the moment.
Going to discuss it with my "man wot does" (ie the things I can't do in case I blow up the house) and see if it's feasible, approx cost etc purely initially to close the top end off and open up the bottom/dig a ramp out of the bank. If doable, I'll be off to the mairie with photos so they can see what I'm on about. Thanks guys.
You could also take the opportunity to mention en passant that you are doing this to try and pacify this pillock, and drop in the fact that you have felt intimidated by him - just a thought.
Driveway, yes. Go to your mairie and discuss it and I think you will need to fill in a déclaration préalable as we did for a kind of driveway into a field when we enclosed the front of our place and leave it there, it should be approved in a couple of weeks.
Oh heavens, I couldn't cope with nine dogs. Three of each, doggies and moggies, is fine by me. I'm feeling much stronger about this now than I was a few days ago all thanks to you lot. I'm also working on plans to move the driveway down the garden and not immediately in front of the house as it is now which is directly opposite his front door, and erecting a high fence there instead which will serve three purposes: severely reduce his line of vision towards the house/garden, prevent him throwing any barbed comments over the low driveway gates, especially to the youngster who might come out the kitchen door plus we could have a nice little patio area there instead one day!
So out of bad things can come good (albeit involving some hefty shovel work on my part to dig a drive ramp) - the front of the house can be reborn as an entertainment area instead of looking like a car park, more privacy from the lane with a new fence, support from you lot in respect of both "the nonsense" and for how I want life to be for my little one and his furry pals. I thank you.
Er, anyone know if you need permission to move a driveway from the top of the garden to the bottom ...?
Nope, the old maire did nothing except baksheesh. Then he was caught a bit less than two years ago and we had the man who is in office now who was returned in March and is both communally very active and very, very friendly with us. Last week at the village festival, OH was on the crêpe thing all day, and I did interpreting for the traditional blacksmith workshop for two hours for the English speakers, he bought our daughters and us dinner at the village meal! However, down to six (noisy) mutts and well fenced in now, apart from the poor sods below her losing sleep, nobody is complaining. They might yet though.
Also, thinking about British folk hereabouts. Almost none have dogs, those who do have those little yappy things and one only with a bigger dog are a couple not far from us who have a German Shepherd, smaller than ours but magnificent nonetheless :-)
Have you spoken to the mairie about it? Not complaining, but asking them what to do?
We moved to a semi-ruined house 6 years ago which has an official entrance- the access pompiers - down a chemin rurale which goes between two houses then owned by the same man, right under the window of one of the houses. here is a doite de passage through the vines for cars, but the mail box and the rubbish bin are at the end of the chemin rurale, outside our neighbour's house. We came back from signing the act with the keys to our new house to find the mail box uprooted and dumped outside our house. According to the neighbour it had been on his land and it was our problem if we had to make a roundtrip of 14 km to collect the post from the post-office. The mairie tried to make him see sense then eventually issued a formal notice saying the verge outside the house was communal land and our post box had to go there.
Next thing the neighbour sends us a letter objecting to my walking up to collect the post with the dogs because it made his dogs bark. He said one of his dogs had thrown herself against the wire and cut herself and next time it happened we'd be liable for the vet's bill. in fact he didn't want us using the chemin rurale at all, we should get in the car and drive to get the post and if we didn't agree with this it was because we didn't understand the way of the countryside...
Like your pillock of a neighbour he wanted things to stay just as he wanted, before annoying people bought the house that hadn't been lived in (he was also trying to sell one of the houses and didn't want viewers to realise the chemin rurale was used), like your neighbour he's a bully and a prat and an a******* - and our mairie knows exactly what he's like.
We're actually on quite civil terms now - I recommended they give glaucosamine to their arthritic dog (it's a nice dog and I love dogs) and anyway he's sold the house and realised that we weren't up for being bullied but it was nasty while it was going on, we were genuinely worried that he might do something to our dogs, so I know something of what you're going through.
Don't back down, get the mairie on your side and it's also worth looking up the law so if he does make any threats you can promptly reply with the 'loi of such and such a date states... so you can't do that...' It really works!