The Cutter's Revenge

Photo Copyright: Maggie May

Those readers who have been following the saga of the wind chimes that were cut down maliciously, by an irate neighbour might wonder what the latest episode is.

In the above photo you may remember that two of the chimes on the tree, were chopped down by a pair of long handled cutters being poked through the shrub, early one morning. Unfortunately for the cutter, we witnessed the act. I just repaired the larger chime, hung it nearer to the house and rehung the smallest in the tree.

This action, brought a torrent of abuse and threats in the street to my family and frightened our youngest granddaughter. It came quite unexpectedly and continued throughout the coming fortnight on several occasions. It involved bullying and screaming and ranting.

Because our family have been bullied by this person before, when we were forced to alter something on our property that this person didn't like and because we were bullied and verbally abused on that occasion too, I decided to stand firm this time, realising that once you give in to a bully, then you are opening yourself up to further abuse on another occasion. This is in fact what happened.

The first thing I did was to find out if the chimes were annoying other people and the answer so far has been no.

I then decided to tie up the large chime at night time and on windy days. However, the abuse continued. The person wanted it down. Nothing less would do.

We have received a letter from the council about the complaint, but when I rang back to explain to the very kind man, the exact situation, he told me to leave things for now as they are and murmured *one rule for them and another for me.*

You see, this person plays a musical instrument sometimes very late at night and and also some other very loud things that go on from time to time that I cannot for obvious reasons write exactly what they are, for the sake of anonymity.

I don't know what the decibels of the screaming at us in the street are, but I should imagine its louder and more annoying than a wind chime.

So at the moment, I am hoping the situation will calm down. I have been through a lot over the last six months and have come out a stronger person. Lets hope this doesn't become the one straw that breaks the camel's back.

I have found myself looking in Estate Agent shop windows much more than usual though.

The Secret Cutter

Photo copyright: Maggie May

Following the post I wrote about chimes, several people have told me they like the sound and no one has said that they find them annoying. My friend was very generous to buy me the above set and she had been invited round to our house and we had been out in the garden and she was thrilled that I liked them as much as she did.

I was startled last Sunday morning by a terrible crashing noise on my garden path and as I was near the window, I actually witnessed the new chimes falling to the ground. When I got outside within a few seconds to investigate, there was the sound of running feet and a back door slammed shut. There had been a shadowy figure that I glimpsed through chinks behind the fence.

The large chimes were on the path and had been cut through on all four strings where they were attached to a hook, which was still hanging on the branch where it had been situated. Nearby was a smaller set of chimes and these had been chopped from the branch near a seat where I often sit with a book. On closer inspection I realised that the large set must have been cut with long handled choppers which were poked through my tree. My garden is surrounded by 6 foot walls. The shrub that they were hanging on is very tall and dense but there was a smallish gap just above the larger chimes where they had been severed. This is where the cutter must have poked the shears. The distance was about 3 feet.

Fancy doing that in broad day light.

Its not as though we live in a really quiet place. We are surrounded by traffic noises and at the back it is quite heavy at times. There is the sound of a yapping dog, a piano playing, radios sometimes blaring and quite often there have been construction workers with hammers and drills. Well all these things might be irritating but they are all part and parcel of living in a fairly busy city area.

Give and take, I always say.

If someone had come and politely told me they were upset, then I would have probably taken the larger chime down. However because of the sneaky, malicious way that it was cut....... I repaired it and have hung it nearer to my house. I know that it is possible to buy 20ft loppers so I hope they will remain safe!

In the mean time I have been called an *evil, autistic woman.* Not quite sure why I was called autistic. A bit of an insult to autistic people, I think.

Why are people so intolerant of each other these days?

How would others handle this situation?