I hear ya, stupid neighbor!
We also have some stupid people live across the back alley from us. Started from years ago, the two boys were nothing but trouble. When they were teens, they used to go into the hot tub in the middle of a winter night. Their tub is outside their house, facing our backyard. We have two trees in our backyard, one on the left and the other one, right. From their hot tub they could see our kitchen bay window between the two trees. I guess the trees must look like goal posts to them and our bay window, their target zone. So the two boys often stayed up until midnight or 1 in the morning, went into their hot tub and took turns to throw snowballs at our window.
They always waited until we had all gone to sleep and our house was dark. Then the snowballs hit our window "SLAP" and woke us up. But by the time we got out of bed, went to the kitchen, we could only see the wet trails of the snowballs on the window and the boys had already taken cover inside their house. We knew it was them only we couldn't prove it.
For years, they had been doing that and never got caught - until I gave birth to my son. You know when you have an infant, there's no such thing of sleep.
One early morning around 1am, I was in the kitchen warming up a bottle of milk for our son. I saw the two boys in the hot tub and I knew they were just waiting for me to leave. I grabbed the bottle, turned off the light but I didn't leave the kitchen. I stood behind a small wall so they couldn't see me. Sure enough, in a few minutes SLAP - a huge snowball hit our window and sled down the glass leaving the telltale trail. The hot tub lights were turned off but I saw one of the boys picked up his towel and tiptoed back inside their house. Our house was still dark so the boy thought I had gone back to sleep and that it was safe to come out from the dark.
Raged (never underestimate the power of postpartum hormones) I put on my boots and coat, ran around the block and went to bang on their door. The older boy came out to answer the door. I asked for their mother. He said their mother was asleep and that he was not going to wake her up. I told him if I couldn't talk to his mother I would go to talk to the police. He didn't ask why (because he knew why) and in a few minute his mother was at the door asking "what do you want". I told her what her boys did and she just looked at me like I was not even there. I said to her, "They have been doing this for years and we thought they would grow out of it. But no, they didn't because they have just put a huge snowball on our window!" She didn't look impressed then asked "So did they break anything?" I suddenly realized why her boys behaved the way they did. Their parents didn't give a damn to what their children were doing.
Their dad worked offshore so he was never home. Mom, on the other hand, was a social butterfly who wouldn't bother to stay home. Often the teen boys were left home to take charge of the house for long weekends so they invited their teen friends over for dancing/drinking/trouble making marathons.
Many times they're all getting drunk, building a bonfire in their backyard, sitting on top of their roof throwing bits and pieces of burning stuff from the rooftop. I just didn't know whether I should worry if they were going to burn their house down or one of the drunk kids was going to fall off the roof.
We have called the cops many times for their behaviors. The cops came, told them to stop and the party usually ended an hour after we made the phone call. Yes, it took at least an hour for the cops to show up. Then it would go quiet until their next party and the cops would come again and the same scene recycles on.
The boys are no longer teenagers but the younger son still lives with his parents. And of course, when his parents go on vacation his friends and heavy base music will take over the house. I don't see them climb the rooftop any more but the "BOOM BOOM" come their basement travel across the back alley and into our house. I am in bed but I can feel the vibrations, every beat of it. But usually around 3 or 4 in the morning, they all get drunk and pass out and that's when I can finally get some sleep.
I often wonder why their doings only bother me but not my other neighbors. They never seemed to call the cops or make complaints. Don't they hear their loud music and notice the bonfire? Am I overreacting to the normal behaviors of typical young men?
