The Grumpy Neighbor

Every neighborhood has one. Our next door neighbor is the perfect example of the grumpy, cantankerous, ill-tempered, and disagreeable type that one can find even in the nicest villages.  He is peevish, constantly complaining and a fault-finder.  He makes Mr. Wilson of Dennis the Menace and Sarge of Beetle Bailey combined look quite tame in comparison. Everyone in our street and our surroundings find him so annoying that I often wonder how his family can stand him.  I feel quite sorry for his wife and children who are all very pleasant and friendly.  In fact, I was a sponsor at their daughter's wedding several years ago since she is quite close to me.  And so, for the many years that we have been neighbors, my family and I have tried to be as respectful and as tolerant as possible to the man of the house in spite of his crankiness and many idiosyncracies .  

Retrieved from http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/s/sam_foss.asp

But today, I just felt that enough is enough. As I was entering our driveway, he confronted me by first saying that it is not that he wants to be "king" around here but he is complaining about the "noise" created by my son and his elementary days classmates who were having a mini reunion in our garage last night until the wee hours in the morning.  I respectfully told him that this is not often and in fact, it was the first time ever that my son's friends stayed up so late.  I was trying to explain that they gathered because one classmate whom they have not seen for 4 years was here for summer vacation before she starts work.  But he refused to listen and started raising his voice about the lack of sensitivity of my son and his friends, so that I drove the car past him and entered my garage.  I saw him coming near and so, I said in a loud and annoyed voice that I will talk to my son so that there will be no more parties ever! He kept on talking but I turned my back and entered the house. You see, our grumpy neighbor hate it when people have parties beyond 10 PM.  He used to complain, when the couple renting my aunt's house besides ours would have friends over on weekends for a party.  He would actually confront them and once he threw dirt in their lawn when they ignored him. He would smugly boast about it the next day to our househelp.  He is intolerant of everything and is really incorrigible.  My mom did not take what happened sitting down and called his wife.  I told her what her husband said about not wanting to be king and she said, "but that is how he acts".  She was very apologetic. My brother's helper next door said she could hear them arguing!  I guess this means he and I are no longer friendly neighbors.  But wait...why am I quite happy about that? HAHAHAHA!