You keep on knocking, but you can't come in

I wrote about my next door neighbor awhile ago. You might remember me mentioning her?She's the one who first introduced herself wearing nothing but a dressing gown and nothing underneath? Sound familiar? If not you can read all about here.


Well, since our fist encounter she's been taking to knocking on our door every so often. Once she came over to see if we could give her 3 quid, which Matthew did. Since then she's been asking for chocolates and peanuts. 


Now, I don't usually keep peanuts in the house. I do however keep chocolate. I decided to spoil Matthew by buying him 15 bars of Milka for Valentines Day, so we've got a few bars about. When she comes asking for chocolate she'll get a bar and I am happy to give it to her.


Because I am such a thoughtful neighbor I even  picked up some packets of peanuts and went over and gave them to her last weekend. She suffers from some kind of vicious pain in her knee....she told me how it happened, but I had a hard time understanding her on account that she has no upper teeth and speaks with a heavy Jamaican accent. The language barrier hasn't been much of an issue,her pronunciation of chocolate and peanuts is perfect.


Since last weekend, when I brought over the peanuts she's been taking to knocking on the door immediately when I get home from work around 7 p.m. and again at 10:30 and 11 p.m. Everyday!


Which is excessive. At first I was worried that she might need help, but the knock isn't really a I need help knock. It's quieter and less urgent and more annoying.


When I've told people about the fact that I am happy to be neighborly to an elderly woman who isn't very mobile, most people think I am nuts. They warn me that no good will come of it, they tell me stories about so called friendly neighbors who ended up robbing them blind when they were away on holiday, they tell me that I'll go broke if I keep suppling her with fine chocolate and nuts...you get the picture.


While all this might be true, it doesn't really bother me. What does bother me is this late night knocking. I only answer the door if I feel like it, I don't feel like I have to open it every time she comes round. There's got to be some kind of boundary. 


We'll see how things go this week with the knocking and hopefully she will have taken the hint that I won't answer the door everyday and we can go back to the bi-weekly chocolate and peanut exchange.