Weird annoying neighbour, any ideas

[orbital]

Beat him to the punch. Leave a bunch of leaves under you wipers before he gets there. Make it really obvious with so many it looks ridiculous.

+

I was thinking the exact same thing,, the look on his face would be well worth the small hassle


================/=========

[BarryH]

Place a note for him in the exact spot under the wiper blades where he usually places the leaves saying something like:

"Hello Bob, (or whatever his name is)
There is a nice pint of beer for you in the back seat.
Have a good evening.

Best Regards,
Maurice"

[eh4]

The last two posts hit the nail on the head imo.
Mostly people are looking for some communication and connection, sounds like he might have some troubles but that he's a pleasant and harmless person.

[JemR]

The last two posts hit the nail on the head imo.
Mostly people are looking for some communication and connection, sounds like he might have some troubles but that he's a pleasant and harmless person.

Yeah. The more I think about this the more I think it's all about the leaves. The man, his wife, her friend, the friends mother etc., someone or other must have slipped over on these leaves. Maybe more than once. And this is his odd way of communicating to you to clean them all up. Primary the ones in the public street. Without having to knock on your door everyday. Maybe he really fears getting in to a heated argument. I jog a few times a week and some leaves on paths, left to collect mud and water, are ankle twisters and leg breakers. I'm having to avoid them all the time. So collect all of them up and hose the path and road clean of mud. Which should really be done anyway. Then leave the note as BarryH advises.


Hello “Bob”, Sorry, the Euro has dropped. I've cleaned them all up.
There is a nice pint.....

[mr_maurice]

I'll adress a bunch of posts raising some legitimate questions.

Am I 100% sure I have the right suspect ? Here is the timeline:
- august 2011, the dog incident (to recap, he'd let his dog poop on our yard for weeks)
- september 2011: my mother caught him red handed for the first time.
- july 2012: somebody is doing the same game again every single time he gets the opportunity, mostly at late evenings or early mornings, occasionally during the day.

The man, his wife, her friend, the friends mother etc., someone or other must have slipped over on these leaves.

The tree is on our property, there are never more than 10 of those on the public street. They also fall on the "parking side" of the street. That is, to walk on them you have to cram yourself on the narrow space between cars and walls.
And also, it's summer, the leaves are green and strong, I guess his picking them from the tree. My point is that there is no legitimate nuisance that I can see posed by our tree.
Or completly anecdotic, he could as well be doing this because 5 minutes a day the sun reflects off my windshield to his rooms window, and that's annoying.


Also the guy I suspect is in his late sixties, drives around and takes care of his business just fine. I mean he is not a senile old man on the edge of dementia walking with canes.
As for asking his wife whether he his crazy, I think it sounds a lot like already assuming that he his in fact, crazy. Talking to him directly sounds less insulting IMHO, doesn't stop me from asking the wife later.

Anyway here is my setup (enjoy the fine engineering) :

And this is a test shoot

[angelofwar]

The first thing that came to mind, was a remote, battery operated, motion alarm. They can be had for $15-$20. Place it in you car, facing the windshield, and it'll go off. A rather loud, annoying alarm. But, I would only do this after talking to his wife about it, and seeing if there is something else going on.

[rufus001]

It's getting exciting now!

[chmsam]

Good grief folks, we're talking about a few leaves, not an armed insurgence. The guy isn't frothing at the mouth, he's just behaving a little bit oddly for any number of reasons.

Simply having an outside authority figure along for both safety and arbitration when the OP talks with the guy should be more than enough. It would keep the situation on an even keel and would be even better if the conversation could take place in a neutral place.

I'm amazed at the level of fear and outrage being expressed over such a minor incident.

Times are tough for sure but but living in this level of fear or being ready to threaten or actually strike out violently at somebody at the drop of a hat is just screwed up, folks.

That behavior is a whole lot scarier than some doofus putting leaves under someone's wipers.

[JemR]

Am I 100% sure I have the right suspect ? Here is the timeline:
- august 2011, the dog incident (to recap, he'd let his dog poop on our yard for weeks)
- september 2011: my mother caught him red handed for the first time.
- july 2012: somebody is doing the same game again every single time he gets the opportunity, mostly at late evenings or early mornings, occasionally during the day.

Fair enough. Some were asked by me. Answers make things clear.

The tree is on our property, there are never more than 10 of those on the public street. They also fall on the "parking side" of the street. That is, to walk on them you have to cram yourself on the narrow space between cars and walls.
And also, it's summer, the leaves are green and strong, I guess his picking them from the tree. My point is that there is no legitimate nuisance that I can see posed by our tree.

Yes Ok. But leaves do blow about. It's what they do best. He may well be picking them NOW, but they may have been many more in a far bigger area in the autumn when this all first started. (as per timeline)

As for asking his wife whether he his crazy, I think it sounds a lot like already assuming that he his in fact, crazy. Talking to him directly sounds less insulting IMHO, doesn't stop me from asking the wife later.

And here we are at your big decision!

And fwiw some of my advice from the last week.

...send him a letter. Being very polite, but formal and concise, telling him you know what he does and you would like it to stop immediately and if it does then that may be the end of it..... If it continues send a letter weekly detailing what he has done and telling him you may now take the matter further and what that further will be with the video evidence you have. Police, authorities, law etc. It is harassment as it is obviously troubling you. You may have to decide how far you wish to take it, unfortunately, for it to stop.

Or later

I have great sympathy with the OP who obviously wishes to avoid conflict, but I am thinking he needs to take someone with him, politely knock on the man's door and find out.

You may, of cause, ignore all my advice. But, at some point you may have to find out what this man is thinking. Good luck

[biglights]

MR. Maurice how has everthing been going, did you get this all settled?

[bshanahan14rulz]

perhaps you might need to rotate the glasses?

[Toohotruk]

Any updates?

[Phil Ament]

Have you actually asked him to wipe it out and leaf you alone!

[TooManyGizmos]

~

Mr. Maurice ,

Since you are watching your vehicle so closely ........

It would be so neat if you could re-direct your windshield washer fluid jets , and then wire up a remote control to your window washer pump , so that when you see him about to lift your wiper blades ... you could turn on the washer pump and squirt him in the face !

~

And on a side note :
Does your vehicle have a wireless remote key fob ... for opening the door locks ? And maybe a little RED button for setting off the car Alarm and flashing the headlights ... when you see him LEAFING the scene of the crime ?

~

[Toohotruk]

Yep, the old "Panic Button" would scare the hell out of him!

[bshanahan14rulz]

I guess he got leaf'd to death

[RBR]

I fear this won´t work.

Panic buttons are (almost) unknown in European cars.

Cheers

RBR

[TedTheLed]

excuse me but why dont you just ask leafman to guard your car?

(he's right there sitting in the passenger seat, wearing a gas mask and a helmet, giving you the finger, cant miss him, don't tell me you don't see him too.)

[theshoelacebandit]

This whole things sounds like it would make a really funny YouTube montage. Catch him on camera several times then record your next moves. Stuff like, taking the wipes off arm and all. Record his reaction. Put them back on but this time covered with something sticky. Record the reaction. Eventually after having some fun with it confront him in person on camera of course. Edit the whole thing. Post it on YouTube. Send the link to all the local news channels. People end up making good money on viral videos that are done right.

[TedTheLed]

yeah, just say leafman looks like Jesus. or

honk if you can see leafman.

[JemR]

yeah, just say leafman looks like Jesus. or

honk if you can see leafman.

Honk! I see leafman. He has piercing eyes. No messin'.

[Quest4fire]

OK. It's getting a little eerie that you haven't posted on this thread since July 4th mr maurice. Let us hear from you so we know all is well.

[iapyx]

Mr. Maurice, glue the wipes onto the windshield.
Or remove them completely.
Or place one of those reflective sun screens behind the windshield, one not with an aluminium side but rather a giant photo of leafs or a giant photo of your neighbor caught in the act.
Or remove the windshield haha, no he would stuff your car full with leafs.
Put an alarm on your car that activates as soon as one of the wipes is touched.
Or sleep in your car, take your brightest flashlight or borrow one from a fellow member and give your neighbor a full load once he does it again.

Need more?

[Phil Ament]

I wonder if it would be at all possible for you to have your car stereo on flat out but with the volume muted, and then have some sort of a button/switch located under the wiper arm so that when the arm is lifted the sound would be instantaneously unmuted! Apparently there is also an indie rock band from Brooklyn whose name is "A Great Big Pile Of Leaves" and so maybe you could load up your stereo with some of their seemingly very apt musical creations! Well it's just a thought that I had anyway!

[mr_maurice]

Woops, been away for quite some time..
I've been playing with my setup for a few days but it needs some tweaking, I get a new video file every time something goes on outside.
He probably calmed down with the leaves anyway, it's the holiday season here and it's hard to go outside without being seen by anyone.

The house will be mostly unnoccupied during summer, he'll get plenty of time to camouflage my car while we're away. Nothing new will happen until september anyway, but then I'll get to try a more reliable setup. Just need some clean room in the attic, trim a few branches off a tree and wait

I've read a few hilarious ideas btw, I see I asked the right crowd

[Marmaduke]

Call the police & have them go over and have a word with him.

[esrevenge]

+1

You guys are waaaay too nice here. This isnt funny and its not a game to humor the guy.

Call the police and tell them this story and you want the cops to talk to the guy. Your neighbor is crazy, normal adults dont put leaves under other cars wipers everyday for a YEAR, you said even during the day.

I hope you get this thing resolved.

[Jay R]

Yes, I can just imagine the reaction he will get when he goes to the police station to report that someone is leaving leaves on his car. Get real.

Just go up to the bloke, ask him to stop leaving leaves on your car and see how it goes from then.

[Phil Ament]

Maybe your motor vehicle could take out a restraining order against him!

[redaudi]

oh. my. god. this thread made my brain hurt.

It's been going on for MONTHS, and you haven't actually bothered to say a thing to him about it? Tell him to knock it off and be done with it.

it really is that simple.