Weird annoying neighbour, any ideas

[biglights]

Put a car cover on your car; no place to put leaves, problem solved.

He should not have to do this!! His property, this guy should leave his hands off.

@ peterkin. This has been going on for a year. Try to ignore it, not happening been to long, no way he is going to stop. I agree with everything else that you mentioned.

 

[REDLINEVUE]

Take two tube socks and staple a bunch of these leaves to them... once the socks are covered in leaves, slip one sock over each wiper blade..... If he's as crazy at it sounds, he'll see this and think he already struck. Then you can just remove the socks and go about your day. LOL

 

[M@elstrom]

1) Ask him outright why he's doing this

OR

2) Start putting leaves under HIS wipers, when he eventually confronts you say you though he was playing tag :laughing:

 

[Quest4fire]

Try parking your car beside your house, rather than by the road at the border of your property. He might not be willing to cross your property. If he stops, problem solved. If he continues and carries leaves across you property to your house and puts them under your wipers, use your video camera to document his actions. You have made a good faith effort to avoid conflict so if you do have to get the authorities involved at a later date they might be more inclined to help. Plus it is much easier to set up video equipment inside the front room of your house than outside. Good luck Maurice, these situations have to be handled tactfully. Over in the US, when neighbors get into legal disputes, the only ones who win are the lawyers.

 

[CLHC]

Interesting. Maybe during his working days as an electrician, he was one of those pranksters. Construction fellows will pull a prank on others every now and then. I used to work in construction and have experienced that myself from the fellows on the job site. Possibly it's stuck with him even in his retirement years. Either and how, hope things work out between the both of you.

 

[Vesper]

I agree with others here that this seems to hint of a mental/emotional issue with this fellow. I think Labrador has it right; strike up a friendly conversation with his wife and see if you can steer the conversation to that of concern over his behaviors. If you approach the situation with an air of concern rather than anger, you might help him get on the road to receiving appropriate treatment, which would be a win for everybody.

Yes, this for sure.

 

[TedTheLed]

in my neighborhood parking under a tree means a bird poop covered car..
dont do anything.. remove leaves in morning, be greatful for clean windshield.
carry on.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

in my neighborhood parking under a tree means a bird poop covered car..
dont do anything.. remove leaves in morning, be greatful for clean windshield.
carry on.

:twothumbs....carry on.

~ Chance

 

[enomosiki]

He was caught in act and was confronted, and refused to provide explananation as to why he was doing it. That, my friend, is not kosher. He is engaging in trespassing.

Go up to him and politely ask him to stop. Get the request recorded, as well, and preferrably with a timestamp. If he stops after that, then it's all fine and good.

If he doesn't stop even after that, get a dashcam in your car and get a recording of him, again with timestamp if possible. There are decent dashcams out there that sell for reasonable prices. And then get the police involved. Problem solved.

Frequently tampering with windshield wipers will wear out the blades, especially if he's sticking leaves underneath them. Leaves are more abrasive than you think.

 

[mr_maurice]

I'm not going to change my routine, parking my car elsewhere is not a realistic option.
If getting pictures and asking him/his wife/the authorities doesn'nt do anything I'll go along with my life.
I just remembered last year this guy used to let his dog take a cr*p on our yard when we where gone.
Unfortunately a friend was staying in the house and confronted him too.

There is probably a bigger issue with this guy.
Btw I just woke up, found the usual harvest on my car. Next thing I'm setting something to film at night, do you think an IR led array behind the dash would put enough light for a webcam to capture something ?
I'll probably have a source of light on the car, and a webcam taped on binoculars feeding some capture soft on a computer in my attic. (Good thing I have long holidays this year)

 

[Nyctophiliac]

So this chap stopped letting his dog poop on your property when confronted? That shows a modicum of concern at his actions meaning a confrontation with the law or civil authorities is not on his priorities list. Just checking, but how did your friend confront him? Did he ask politely or did he shout at him in a forceful and demonstrative manner? Whichever way it was it worked. I just hope that no threats were used of any kind or you may have a bigger problem in the making.

Get your video evidence for a period of time, and make your case to him via an official, a policeman or a lawyer. It is quite obvious to me that he has no respect for you or your property despite the friendly manner he adopts with you on other occasions. Also the cumulative damage to your wipers should not be ignored and with the evidence you must also require recompense.

I don't think trying to get poop on is hands is a good idea, this guy is just asking to be pushed over the edge into confrontation and then you'll have a neighbour from Hell!

As a matter of record, you don't think that at some time in the past you may have done something to prompt these anti social problems? Do you test your brightest lights on his house in the wee small hours and take beamshots??:devil:

 

[mr_maurice]

Our property opens directly on the road on the whole width of thr ground, without any fence or gate. That's 5 or 6 meters wide. I don't know how our friend confronted him, knowing the guy I think it was probably in a direct but peaceful way. He does'nt take much nonsense but knows how to not worsen a situation.
My guess is that he let his dog on our ground out of not caring much for us, and does'nt do this when he can tell for sure if somebody lives in the house.

As for past action on our side possibly leading to a grudge he could hold against us, I have no idea. This guy probably has a good 10 years of life before running out of steam, so I don't plan on doing anything stupid. Yet.

Having the car honk when someone is fiddling with the wipers has a certain appeal though. Yeah bad idea.

 

[Nyctophiliac]

Lovely though the car honk idea is, I think you should stick to the moral high ground.

Wonder what started it? At least you can finish it with civility.

Bon chance! (Ils sont fous, ces voisins - as Obelix might say).

 

[enomosiki]

Btw I just woke up, found the usual harvest on my car. Next thing I'm setting something to film at night, do you think an IR led array behind the dash would put enough light for a webcam to capture something ?
I'll probably have a source of light on the car, and a webcam taped on binoculars feeding some capture soft on a computer in my attic. (Good thing I have long holidays this year)

Dashcams with IR capability and LEDs should have enough illumination for filming at close range, which will be good enough since the guy is directly in front of your car when he's engaging in trespass.

Some of them come with internal batteries and can record when the vehicle isn't providing any power. Heck, some of them come with motion detection, too, and can be set to start recording when movement is detected.

Also, on your night off, you should try to catch him by surprise. You are on CPF--which means that you probably should have an insanely bright light or two. Give him a nice taste of portable sun in his eyes.

 

[selfbuilt]

I would talk to the wife. Approach her as a caring individual worried about his strange behavior. It could be heath related, and she may not have seen any weirdness yet.

That is really good advice. Before getting into more extravagant attempts at detection/interdiction, a simple conversation with the man's wife may clarrify the situation.

Two comments really struck me here:

My mother once hid in one of our cars and caught him in the act, he would'nt give a real explanation when confronted. It obviously did'nt deter him since he kept doing it every time he could.

What really bugs me it that this guy usually behaves like a nice and almost cheerful individual, that is waving to say good morning, have a bit of smalltalk if we cross paths, he even helped me maneuver my car out by checking for traffic on our narrow street.

Given his likely age (for being retired), this sounds very much like the onset of dementia. He may be perfectly pleasant and seemingly lucid for brief casual conversations. But the disorganized and repetitive behaviour (and his inability to recognize or justify it) would be quite consistent with dementia.

Again, talk to the wife. It is likely to come as no surprise to her (i.e. no video evidence will be required).

 

[Gene43]

Get one of those motion activated wildlife cameras that hunters use.

 

[Chauncey Gardiner]

mr_maurice,

Read this again....great counsel. Also, Love they neighbor as they self.

~ Chance

That is really good advice. Before getting into more extravagant attempts at detection/interdiction, a simple conversation with the man's wife may clarrify the situation.

Two comments really struck me here:



Given his likely age (for being retired), this sounds very much like the onset of dementia. He may be perfectly pleasant and seemingly lucid for brief casual conversations. But the disorganized and repetitive behaviour (and his inability to recognize or justify it) would be quite consistent with dementia.

Again, talk to the wife. It is likely to come as no surprise to her (i.e. no video evidence will be required).

 

[TooManyGizmos]

~

Invite him IN for lunch .... and get to know him better ......

maybe he is lonely ?

~

Try asking him WHY he is doing it ?

Maybe his wife is ignoring him ?

OLD men get frustrated ! ... and confused .

Some are DRIVEN INSANE ... by their WIVES !

~

DON'T talk to the WIFE !!!!!!

SHE may be the ROOT of the problem !

(and a potential AX murderer)

~

BEWARE of the WIFE !!!!!!!!

~

SHE may be using HIM ...... AS BAIT !!!!

~

 

[mr_maurice]

First things first, I'll make absolutely sure it's still him doing it. I mounted a pair of binoculars on a tripod, stuck a webcam in the eyepiece and focused on the car, the concept works but I'll probably shell out a few euros for a semi decent webcam. There's some fine motion detection software out there that'll do the rest.Today he left me his morning gift around noon so IR illumination can wait. I'm not spending anythin beyond that, I'd rather save the money for something that will spit a few hundred lumens otf and sleep in an other car, just in case. I've been away from cpf for a while, there's probably a new fancy XM-L something waiting for me somewhere...
Thanks CPFers for your support and sage advices. And maybe next time, blurry pictures of an old men picking leaves off a tree. So poetic

 

[biglights]

Nice cant wait, good luck!!! Hope all is resolved soon for you!