This is a source of pain for me throughout my life. When I was a kid it was neighbourhood kids in packs chasing me around for being the new kid, which I often was, of because I was a little different to them, which I always was. Was I that different? No. Mostly I just never understood the pecking orders, and did not adhere to them. Stuff that in the grand scheme of thing just don’t matter.
Currently neighbourhood kids are a nuance because out house is down an embankment. The road is almost up to the ceiling of our living room, so when we look out the windows, the fence out front prevents most of our view of the road. That also means that when a ball is kicked off the road, it almost invariably hits one of our living room windows. We were out in the street for three years or so asking the kids to please go find another place to play, or just kick in the uphill direction because when they did, the ball would not pound someone’s window.
Finally a year of quiet has passed us with the ball issue. But that is just the ball. Some years ago we were out in our back yard as a family; one of the rare times we go out because we are much more inclined to be indoors due to weather or preference, or disgust with the idea of our neighbourhood. I saw the little girl who lives behind us looking through the back fence. After a while I looked again, and she was still there.
I said “Hi Charlie, ” to her, and she vanished. That was a starting point of her harassing our home or our family every time we saw her, and sometimes when we did not see her. For example, my wife was pregnant last year, and on crutches. As we walked a few streets over, Charlie came past us in the other direction. We ignored her for the most part, except to avoid stepping on her as we went. Her little nine year old eyes met mine for a second and she said, “fucking twats.” That is an example of a typical encounter with her. We have also had to deal with her standing out in front of our house yelling obscenities to our windows, and when we try to chase her off, she and her family use the excuse that it is a public street and she can play in it. Her parents stand behind whatever she says, so if she says she was not, then she was not.
Fair enough, you would think this is just a matter of bourdon of proof. Try filming something or taking pictures in the UK if it is off your property. You will get everything up to the accusation of being a pervert for taking a picture of a child throwing stones at your windows. Sadly, I know this from personal experience. I am told I can put in security cameras, but if they can see the footpath (sidewalk) in front of my house at all, then that is not allowed. Where do you think the kids are when they throw things at our windows?
So what now? I have mud pelted all over my house, and as of yesterday at 3:30PM, they have upgraded to eggs. The most aggravating thing is that fir the first time in a long time I actually saw a silhouette of a child in the act. I could not tell you if it was Charlie, or if it was another boy who is pissed off at JJ because he pushed JJ into his little sister, and now says that JJ pushed his little sister. Or it could be Dylan, as he is really the only one in our house that makes contact with anyone who lives in this neighbourhood.
Or it could have just been for fun because our windows are so easy to hit.
Kelsey
Worcester, England