The trouble with that Generation

Sadly we are losing a whole generation of cool old people. The ones that fought in WW2 and automatically earned my utmost respect and admiration. Instead, they’re being replaced with a bunch of embittered Daily Mail readers who are rude and obnoxious. Perhaps I’m being a little over dramatic? I thought this so I started making a conscious decision to prove myself wrong.

Who is that person not letting me cross on a zebra crossing?

Oh, it’s an old person.

Who is that person pushing in the queue?

Oh, it’s an old person.

Who is that person not acknowledging the fact I’ve let them have right of way when I’m driving?

Oh look it’s an old person.

I used to let this shit slide when I was younger.  When I thought older people just warranted respect and it didn’t need to be earned. As I get older though I’m beginning to change my opinion. What have these dithering old gits done to warrant such an attitude problem?

I’m currently based in Southend so being by the seaside we have our fair share of octogenarians. The particular spot I’m based is one of the nicer parts so you could even suggest the oldies in my neck of the woods are quite affluent. Still no excuse though!

We’ve recently moved flats where we had no end of trouble. One particular old misery made our lives very difficult. What was our crime? Having a child!

Here’s the part where I try (and fail) to rationalise the reasoning behind our torment. Our flat was quite small and as such the noise travelled easily. Joshua was a tricky baby and was up most nights. This I’m sure pissed off all of the neighbours. People like their peace and quiet so I can totally understand any frustrations. It would piss me off. That said I’m sure what I’m about to tell you will shock you.

Jan, our neighbour was head of the residents association. I guess mid 60s, no longer working for a living. At first, she seemed fine, if not a little intense. During our previous 2 and a half years we had some minor run-ins with her but nothing too bad. As head of the association, she took it upon herself to personally police the car park from her flat. We just accepted this as part of the package, I mean there are worst neighbours out there. My other half spoke to her just before she gave birth and informed her that we wouldn’t be renewing our tenancy and would be moving out a few months after Joshua was born.

6 weeks after Joshua was born we received an anonymous letter threatening us with eviction if we didn’t stop ‘the nuisance’. We knew instantly who had sent it and were shocked that she hadn’t even bothered to knock to discuss the problem. Hannah upon receiving the letter knocked on her door only to hear her hide behind her door. After some legal advice and further research, we confirmed what we thought. This was absolute nonsense. Joshua would not be arrested for crying.

While researching this we even found the template online of the letter that was posted. She couldn’t even be bothered to write something original. We decided to send a letter to all the residents in our block asking for their patience and if they had any problems come and talk to us about it. The next day we found one resident had torn the letter up and posted it back through our letterbox and Jan had written ‘no one cares about your problems’ on hers and had posted it back. The boiling point was reached!

We spoke to our landlord who hinted at previous problems he had had with Jan. A couple of the residents knocked for us and told us of the problems they had also encountered with her. We decided to call the police for advice. They sent a really nice community officer around who said he would have a word with her as he had spoken to her on a previous occasion. On coming back he looked visibly shocked by his encounter. He said she just kept screaming at him that she wasn’t going to talk to him and her solicitors were getting involved. Just what you need to hear when you’re a new parent trying to raise a newborn.

Things came to a head one Sunday morning when she began banging on our walls and screaming that we will soon be evicted. ‘Good she’s opening the lines of communication’ I remember thinking. ‘Time to up your medication you mad old trout’ I shouted back. Another call to the police was made and she was handed a harassment order which if broken meant she would get arrested. She kind of got the message after this. She still tried her pathetic tactics like putting her music on really loud, staring at us intently through our bay doors and even whispering ‘psycho bitch’ to Hannah when she collected the post. All stuff I’m sure we could have pursued but couldn’t be hassled. She had all the time in the world where we had none.

Well, we saw out our tenancy term and we’re now somewhere really nice. Our new neighbour is lovely and has made me give oldies a second chance. I should be judging people by what they do and not how old they are. When I went back to tidy the old place up Jan was there staring at me from her flat in her dressing gown. It was like a scene from Psycho. A week or so after we had moved out completely our landlord asked if we would speak to his new tenants about how to sort out the heating. While having a conversation about heating it turned to Jan quite quickly.

‘Did you have any problems with the neighbour?’

‘Erm, why do you ask’

‘Well, we knocked to introduce ourselves and the next thing we know we’ve received a letter accusing us of harassment’

I CLOSE MY CASE, MY LORD! Complete and utter nut-nut who unfortunately ruined what should have been the happiest time of our lives.

I believe in Karma and really hope I’m there to witness her comeuppance.