get mad AND get even (Photos added)
So I'm working on the computer in the Studio, when I hear a vehicle crunching up the driveway.
Weird...I thought E was watching the b'ball finals.
A big black pickup truck careens around the hairpin corner in front of the Studio, spewing gravel and just about spinning into the greenhouse.
What the....?
As I walk outside two guys jump out of the truck laughing.
They see me standing by the greenhouse and start walking toward our neighbours' house.
"Hey, this is a Private driveway" I call out.
At that moment our neighbours come out on their steps. SHE laughs and says, "A bit worried about your greenhouse?"
I take a deep breath and shake my head slowly. No no no no no. Enough.
The Back Story
All the properties in our little bay are split by the main road. Most people have their homes on the "up side" of the split and their docks, maybe a little beach area, on the lake side. Ours is the reverse. Our house and a teensy lawn-garden are on the lake, and the bulk of the property, including the Studio is on the other side.
Three years ago our south-side neighbours list their house for sale. No bites. They take it off the market for the winter. The next spring they re-list it and come to us about the weird aspects on our mutual property line. We were all aware that a corner of our "courtyard" --which we had renovated from an old rickety garage attached to the house when we bought it -- encroached onto their property on the lakeside. It's been like that for 40+ years. At the same time, they don't really have a driveway up to their house, which is near our Studio. For years there has been a verbal agreement between the various owners of these two properties that they could use our Studio driveway.
What was...Our lovely courtyard, taken from the lake side looking in. French doors on right open into the living room.
So, we proposed that we do a trade: we'd give up enough of a strip of land to build their own driveway in exchange for the sliver where our courtyard encroached. They counter-proposed an easement. But in our research we found out that it would only be good for the existing building; if the roof caved in or the foundation had to be redone, we'd be SOL. So we again suggested the legal property transfer, or to even buy that 75 sq. foot corner.
"No way," said they. "A driveway isn't important to us, we don't mind carrying stuff up our path from the road. Oh, and by the way, how soon can you dismantle your courtyard?"
Much to their surprise, two weeks later what we did was take off the plexi-glas roof, then literally moved the existing wall in three feet towards the house and temporarily rebraced it. They didn't like it but couldn't say anything because now we were "legal".
We lived with it like that for a year, in hopes they'd sell and we could negotiate with a new (saner) owner. Meanwhile, we had windowed French doors leading from our living room into, basically, an unusable alleyway. I put curtains on the doors.
Another year went buy and still no buyer. So in February we decided we had to just go ahead and make changes. There wasn't enough room anymore for an actual sitting area, but we could build a walk-around deck along the side and then fan out at the front to a patio deck with a trellis-fence along the whole thing to create privacy. Eventually the French doors will be taken out and replaced with glass block windows.
What is...Nice, eh? Well it will be better once the fence is done (solid bottom and lattice top). Good view of the neighbours' "Beast", too, which they parked there after we deconstructed.
Construction started. They had a major freak out over setbacks; we got Planning Dept. confirmation. They questioned every move of our builders. We asked again about a swap. Nope. We spent a lot of money on the project and are still waiting for the final fence to go in. Meanwhile, that side of our house is completely open to the road. But, we remained civilized toward them. Karma and all that.
Then, in late April their house sold. "Hmmmm...wonder how they're going to move their stuff out without using our driveway," we pondered.
Back to the day of the black pickup truck.
As I stood there shaking my head, SHE said: "Is there a problem?"
Me: "This is a private driveway. What are you doing?"
SHE: "We're just moving some stuff. You said we could use it when we needed. It's always been like that."
Me: "A whole ton of water has passed under that bridge. You said a driveway wasn't important. You can't have it both ways."
SHE: "That would just be for the new owners though, we thought."
Me: "No. YOU said the driveway wasn't an issue. You have room to park at the bottom of your path and carry stuff down."
SHE: "But this is more convenient..."
Me: Yeah...I understand how this benefits you, but how does it benefit us? You made a decision, we lived up to our part so..."
HE (finally): Ok ok FINE. We'll just do this load then won't use it again.
And they haven't. Box by box, their household is getting carried down the path. And they refuse to talk or even look at me.
Wonder if the new people know the situation? And how they'll like moving in? Because it's not our problem. And let Karma fall where it may.
Weird...I thought E was watching the b'ball finals.
A big black pickup truck careens around the hairpin corner in front of the Studio, spewing gravel and just about spinning into the greenhouse.
What the....?
As I walk outside two guys jump out of the truck laughing.
They see me standing by the greenhouse and start walking toward our neighbours' house.
"Hey, this is a Private driveway" I call out.
At that moment our neighbours come out on their steps. SHE laughs and says, "A bit worried about your greenhouse?"
I take a deep breath and shake my head slowly. No no no no no. Enough.
The Back Story
All the properties in our little bay are split by the main road. Most people have their homes on the "up side" of the split and their docks, maybe a little beach area, on the lake side. Ours is the reverse. Our house and a teensy lawn-garden are on the lake, and the bulk of the property, including the Studio is on the other side.
Three years ago our south-side neighbours list their house for sale. No bites. They take it off the market for the winter. The next spring they re-list it and come to us about the weird aspects on our mutual property line. We were all aware that a corner of our "courtyard" --which we had renovated from an old rickety garage attached to the house when we bought it -- encroached onto their property on the lakeside. It's been like that for 40+ years. At the same time, they don't really have a driveway up to their house, which is near our Studio. For years there has been a verbal agreement between the various owners of these two properties that they could use our Studio driveway.
What was...Our lovely courtyard, taken from the lake side looking in. French doors on right open into the living room.
So, we proposed that we do a trade: we'd give up enough of a strip of land to build their own driveway in exchange for the sliver where our courtyard encroached. They counter-proposed an easement. But in our research we found out that it would only be good for the existing building; if the roof caved in or the foundation had to be redone, we'd be SOL. So we again suggested the legal property transfer, or to even buy that 75 sq. foot corner.
"No way," said they. "A driveway isn't important to us, we don't mind carrying stuff up our path from the road. Oh, and by the way, how soon can you dismantle your courtyard?"
Much to their surprise, two weeks later what we did was take off the plexi-glas roof, then literally moved the existing wall in three feet towards the house and temporarily rebraced it. They didn't like it but couldn't say anything because now we were "legal".
We lived with it like that for a year, in hopes they'd sell and we could negotiate with a new (saner) owner. Meanwhile, we had windowed French doors leading from our living room into, basically, an unusable alleyway. I put curtains on the doors.
Another year went buy and still no buyer. So in February we decided we had to just go ahead and make changes. There wasn't enough room anymore for an actual sitting area, but we could build a walk-around deck along the side and then fan out at the front to a patio deck with a trellis-fence along the whole thing to create privacy. Eventually the French doors will be taken out and replaced with glass block windows.
What is...Nice, eh? Well it will be better once the fence is done (solid bottom and lattice top). Good view of the neighbours' "Beast", too, which they parked there after we deconstructed.
Construction started. They had a major freak out over setbacks; we got Planning Dept. confirmation. They questioned every move of our builders. We asked again about a swap. Nope. We spent a lot of money on the project and are still waiting for the final fence to go in. Meanwhile, that side of our house is completely open to the road. But, we remained civilized toward them. Karma and all that.
Then, in late April their house sold. "Hmmmm...wonder how they're going to move their stuff out without using our driveway," we pondered.
Back to the day of the black pickup truck.
As I stood there shaking my head, SHE said: "Is there a problem?"
Me: "This is a private driveway. What are you doing?"
SHE: "We're just moving some stuff. You said we could use it when we needed. It's always been like that."
Me: "A whole ton of water has passed under that bridge. You said a driveway wasn't important. You can't have it both ways."
SHE: "That would just be for the new owners though, we thought."
Me: "No. YOU said the driveway wasn't an issue. You have room to park at the bottom of your path and carry stuff down."
SHE: "But this is more convenient..."
Me: Yeah...I understand how this benefits you, but how does it benefit us? You made a decision, we lived up to our part so..."
HE (finally): Ok ok FINE. We'll just do this load then won't use it again.
And they haven't. Box by box, their household is getting carried down the path. And they refuse to talk or even look at me.
Wonder if the new people know the situation? And how they'll like moving in? Because it's not our problem. And let Karma fall where it may.