Since I can remember I have always had the misfortune of having bad neighbours. Whether they were nosey, intrusive, noisy, annoying, stupid, the negativity list is endless... So I have always kept myself to myself without getting too involved with them, nothing more than a Hello or Good Afternoon...
And since I have lived in Brasil I can see that people here, in general, love to have a healthy relationship with their neighbours, in fact people's neighbours know almost everything about their lives - I think this is just too weird.
Over the years I have lived in many different apartments and houses in Brasil and my Brazilian friends always ask me "What are your neighbours like?"
Well, the "neighbours from hell" have followed me here too!
I'm a very calm, friendly, no-nonsense kind of guy and I can get along well with virtually anyone, so why is it that I attract such bad neighbours? Is it all just bad luck or is my God testing me?!
My current neighbour for instance pulled me aside 2 days after I moved in and told me her whole life story at the garden gate, which took more than 2 hours.
In that time I was told that she was recently divorced, has a Daughter that the Father refuses to pay any child support for, lives next door to her Brother and Sister-in-law who argue with her constantly and that all the surrounding neighbours think that she is a prostitute because she got a divorce and is dating another man...
I won't bore you with the rest as I was almost sleeping whilst leaning on the gate that day.
After she told me all of her "soap-opera style" revelations I went into my house thinking "she seems like a nice woman who has just had some bad luck with friends and family..." How wrong I was!
She has 3 big dogs which she insists on keeping outside in her garden day and night, even in the bitter cold winter nights, and they bark constantly... every minute of every day for no reason.
For the first 3 weeks that I lived here I couldn't sleep at all as her garden backs onto my bedroom and it sounds as if the dogs are barking right next to my bed, but after 3 years I have just got used to it and have never complained, sleeping through it all.
She also causes lots of problems for her neighbours (her Brother and Sister-in-law) and I hear them arguing endlessly with her about all the confusions she has caused, in fact most of the surrounding neighbours seem to have alienated her completely.
She once said to me "Wow I haven't seen you for weeks! were you travelling?" and I replied "No, I've been here the whole time" to which she replied "You really are the best neighbour that I have ever had! I never hear you!" and my ironic mind thought: "I wish I could say the same about you darling!" but I just smiled and said "I'm just a calm guy who loves to live peacefully" (even my girls, my own dogs, are peace-loving creatures and only bark when it really is necessary)
Maybe when I move I will have better neighbours who have more consideration for other people... but good or bad I will still be keeping myself to myself and living in my own little house of peace, as getting involved with neighbours would surely be hell!
