We have some interesting neighbors. And that's all I'm going to say about that.
As I've mentioned in here before, we live in one of the most densely packed neighborhoods in Marquette. On our block the ten houses hold a little over 20 dwellings, and behind us is another string of houses, some single family and some multi-family. So let's just establish the fact that there are a LOT of people in our neighborhood.
Now usually, all these people living near each other is fine. Those of us who've been in the neighborhood for a while occasionally chat with each other, and we know that a little courtesy goes along way.
It's just too bad not ALL of our neighbors realize that.
In fact, the past two months have brought three different kinds of neighborhood problems to the fore. The first regards a couple across the street who've opened up a landscaping business. Now that's fine, except for the fact that they run it out of their home in a neighborhood zoned residential. When they opened their business they bought seven different kinds of trucks (pickups, dump, and the like), and since their driveway only holds two of the trucks at any one time the other five are usually on the street, taking up parking spots from the people who live in the twenty dwellings on the street.
Now, our car is parked in our driveway and that really doesn't affect us, but based on the shouting and the nasty notes I've seen left on a few of the trucks, it DOES bother other people living in the neighborhood..
Then there's the dude whose garage is about 60 feet behind our apartment, separated by the small back yard of our next door neighbor. For some reason, this dude decided to buy a 60s-era sports car that doesn't run, and is attempting to fix it with a friend and/or relative. That means that during random hours of the day and the night we're subjected to the sound of the car backfiring (and sounding for all the world like a gunshot) followed by at least 60 seconds of four letter words as the two people trying to fix the car take out their frustrations on each other.
Finally, there's a dude who moved into one of the apartments in the house next door to where we live. The dude, who apparently doesn't have much of a life, sits on their front porch day and night. Now, I don't have a problem with that; after all, we should probably ALL spend more time on our front porches, especially when its nice out. But when this dude sits on his front porch he lights up what appears to be one of the world's biggest joints, and when he exhales the smoke wafts into our living room, causing us to either shut our windows or enjoy what I'm sure is quite possibly the world's biggest contact high.
And he does this four or five times a day.
Now once again, don't get me wrong. If you want to partake, partake. Even though I don't, I DID vote to legalize marijuana, and I've met people for whom it's a lifesaver. So I don't have anything against smoking pot. But when you do it four or five times a day, and let left the smoke from it drift into other people's homes?
Well, it's almost--ALMOST--enough to make one wish that the pot dude would buy a 60s-era sports car himself, and unleash a volley of four letter works every time it backfires, instead of what he does do.
Like I said, almost everyone who lives in our densely packed neighborhood is a good neighbor. They think of others before they do something that might affect others. But there are always those few who, whether they intend to or not, that make you shake your head and hope they they soon find themselves another place to live.
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