Post #262629 by Coco Loco on Tue, Oct 24, 2006 10:39 PM

Okay, I wasn't gonna get into this...but tonight pushed me over the edge. Warning: Major Alameda rant coming up....

Alameda is a pretty cool town in terms of architecture, shops, and the unique cross of culture here ranging from Rockabilly folks, artists, jazz, and yes Tiki. It's location, beach, and town are generally great.

HOWEVER, there's still a minority old guard mentality here that is really really annoying. So annoying in fact that Mai Tai had to seriously convince me to move back here. So here's my gripe about the Alameda old guard attitude.

Most of the old guard have moved out or died, but the few hold outs are really something else. They're Alameda Elks. They think it's okay to make racial and minority jokes -- especially to someone of that minority. There's a judgmental and self riotous drift.

They think it's okay to stick their nose into everyone else's business, discuss it, and form an opinion. Judgments of someone based on how well that person's garden is manicured, how perfect that persons home is, how perfectly that person dresses, and how friendly that person is to the neighbors. It's like a twilight zone episode of 1950's McCarthy.

Anyhow, we live next door to two of the minority old guard. They're retired former swinging 70's folks -- in their late 60's. So they like to party but also are pissy about everything at the same time. Like they don't like any noise after 10:00 pm or before 7:00 am anywhere near their house. Even if it's from inside of a neighbors house. They've complained that they can hear my bedroom TV, set at level 5. Yet they play pool and drink Margaritas all day. A weird dichotomy.

They're relative newlyweds and entertain a lot. Not a problem. Their backyard is picture perfect which is cool. In fact, their entire house is perfect. Overall they're nice, but jeez, the perfection sometimes gets to be too much. It's very important to them to have a perfect environment in terms of visual, sound, etc.

They don't work and the woman's lived there for 40 years. So she's had an opportunity to work on the house. And they're out there EVERY day working on it while I'm working at work.

At present, I can't keep up with the Jones', nor do I care to. I'm too busy earning a living in order to pay the mortgage for this house. We're fixing up the house piece by piece and the backyard is not high on the list at the moment. It'll be beautiful eventually, but there are other priorities like flooring and windows. I keep the front of the house impeccable, and really, they shouldn't care about my backyard...but they do. Why, because they can see it from their second story and want everything in their environment to be perfect.

So for the past three weeks the guy has been bugging me to put up a new fence because the old common fence needs replacement. Yeah, agreed. We've got the good side of the fence, so it's our responsibility.

However, he doesn't want a bad side, so he's willing to share the cost of a higher end fence. Great, except that it costs 3x as much...and he wants it done now?! Okay, I'll pull $3000 out of my pocket today and put up a new fence IMMEDIATELY. Yeah.

So for the past two weeks it's gotten way creepy. He's literally stalking me. I can't go outside without him rushing out to ask me if I've gotten all of the bids yet. I can't walk across the dining room without him seeing me across the way and immediately calling me to ask about it.

So what happens today: Arrrggg, my idiot neighbors just had the cops tag our cute little Miata. The PD are threatening to tow it because the neighbor claimed it was parked for over 72 hrs in 1 spot -- in front of our house. Ironically, we drove it all around town two days ago! The reason they called the cops: Because they're pissed because we aren't able to replace the fence immediately -- and it may have to wait three months. And they're also pissed because we have our vintage VW van parked in OUR driveway, and they don't like looking at it from their kitchen. I am so annoyed. Welcome to the politics of the Alameda old guard.

P.S. Yes, it is nice to live near people who care so much about the area and value it. It could be worse. :wink:

[ Edited by: Coco Loco 2006-10-24 22:51 ]