Friday, June 29, 2007

Friday Flashback - What was he thinking?

Have you ever had the neighbor from Hell?



Did you let him get your goat?



ba-ba-bad neighbor.



In 2005 I moved from the midwest to CA after marrying my high school sweetie. Well sorta. (Another story, another day maybe.) We actually married in 2004 but I had to recondition and sell my condo and a daughter needed to graduate before moving. Very hysterically complicated, but all worked out ok, but it wasn't so fun being married and living 2500 miles apart for the first 6 mo., lol.



Anyway, back to the silly picture. When it became obvious to my neighbor that I was moving, he began to display some VERY strange behavior. I don't know if alzheimer's begins to display this way or not, but he was very odd with his actions.






His sitting room (a bedroom he used for television and reading, etc.) windows faced the parking lot, and was directly in front of where I would park. That room was along side the long wall that connected with my condo. (His 2 sitting windows on the left, my 2 kitchen windows on the right behind the tree). He had mini-blinds on those 2 windows and in the evening he would turn on a bright stand-up lamp, place it on the far side of the room, and proceed to sit on the sofa in his white cotton undershirt and boxers. Oh..did I forget to mention his outfit included the lampshade, ON HIS HEAD, the entire evening as he sat to watch TV (which was also blaring because his hearing was poor). It would be very dark outside, his miniblinds drawn at 45-degree angles (opposite of course) by pulling only one string of the system, and sit in all his glory for friends, visitors and prospective buyers to see. He left the blinds like this all day while I had it for sale. Now go back and click on that last pictures to get a load of those blinds, you can't see it if you don't click, lol.



Normally, Silly Billy, was a fastidious guy. His flowers were the talk, his unit was stunning. He'd redone the entire place, and it was gorgeous.



What could possibly have been his motivation?

1) He maybe thought the next neighbor could be worse than I was?

2) He wanted to pull his property value down? Hadn't he recently tried to sell?

3) He really didn't want me to move? Before he got goofy I had made applesauce from the apples from his tree for him...baked him cookies...shared veggies from my garden.



I had to contact the HOA who sent him a stern letter about "being a good neighbor" and most of the silliness stopped for a bit.



This picture was taken as my movers were packing the moving van, and the last day we day we saw Bill.



Poor Silly Billy, I wish him all the luck, he was so sick. You have to pity a man who tries to make the world as grumpy-at-heart, just to make himself feel better.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh you poor thing, fancy having to live next to that.... Had a good giggle at the lampshade hat though. Gotta laugh.

Kim said...

It's somehow reassuring to know there are other strange neighbors out there! LOL! The photo of Bill with the lampshade on his head is priceless!

Rian said...

Silly Billy was mentally ill. Psychotic. Possibly schizophrenic.

I've had some goofy neighbors, before we moved we had the ones we called the Beverly Hillbillies because they left an ironing board propped against the front of their garage for over a year and a shovel stuck into the ground in the back, but I've never known anyone to wear a lampshade. Billy wins the prize.

Norma said...

It is funny but kind of scary too! You just have to hope that his crazyness stopped at the lampshade and the underwear!

Bet you were glad to move for more than just the sweetie!

atet said...

Ok, and I thought the grouchy old man who likes to call the cops on the kids in the neighborhood who *gasp* ride their bikes was bad. Guess I'll put up with old sourpuss!

Tanya said...

You are so funny. Was he trying to give people a good laugh? I wonder if he ended up in an institute, a home or is just giving a new neighbor the jitters.

~Niki~ said...

Did you receive the quilt hangers? Wanted to make sure they got there OK. :)
Niki

Jules said...

We had really odd neighbors at our old house, one of the reasons we moved. Glad to know other people have odd neighbors.

I want to hear the marrying the high school sweetheart story at some point, though...

Tanya Brown said...

This is a great yarn (greater to hear than to have lived through, I dare say). I'm glad you lived through it, and I'm glad you shared it.

My favorite photo: the one of him out by the trash bin wearing his lampshade. That was pretty much the definition of sartorial elegance!

Sadly, I think you're on the right track surmising that he had a mental ailment of some sort. I hope he had some nice relatives to step in.

Unknown said...

I´ve been there done that. But she never wore lampshade.

Anne said...

Thank you for visiting my new blog and for all your help with the photo uploading. I'm sure there will be some trial and error before I get it down. :-) The pic of your old neighbor with the lampshade on his head is a classic. :-))) Poor man, he probably wasn't all there. Have a Happy 4th!

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

Yes, I have had a strange neighbor, we didn't live in that house for long... TG! I feel your pain, it's all really sad, too; I wonder where he is now, still sporting his lampshade?

Anonymous said...

Poor man, hopefully he's found peace with his new neighbours, but you've got to wonder at the motivation. LOVE the lampshade on the head though, that's a very nice touch.

Anonymous said...

Yep, that one takes the cake. Are you sure "Flashback" Fridays doesn't imply more than just a stroll down memory lane???

I'm amazed you finally sold your condo. You must have got less than you could have, had your neighbor been someone other than Bill.