Our neighbors, they’re a nasty bunch. They like to scream and piss on walls and let their dogs out to run amok. They’re crass and tacky, and they do disgusting things.

I’ve been brought up to ignore people like these because they simply aren’t worth my time and attention. The Husband, on the other hand, has been brought up not to take shit from anybody – which means he ends up in scuffles with these people from time to time. I’ve spoken to him tons of times about how futile and exhausting it is and that we can’t expect to change an entire neighborhood just because we wish it so, and he’s actually mellowed down somewhat.

And so it was that it has been months since the last incident. Unfortunately, the problem with avoiding trouble is that trouble finds you – and it did about two weeks ago.

The most notorious ‘screamers’ in the neighborhood live in the house beside the one across from ours. These people have screaming matches amongst themselves AND with both of their next door neighbors (which, incidentally, are their father’s sisters). Just goes to show what kind of people these are, right?

They have a son, who is a total jackass. Occasionally, we see him walking his dog and deliberately leading it to do its business right in front of our gate. I know Steve had told him off a couple of times, while he just strutted away laughing with his pants halfway down his skinny ass. He’s also leered at my sister and myself a couple of times, but we’ve always just ignored the ugly motherfucker.

Anyhow, the night of the Boyz II Men concert (my sister and I had front-row tickets, baby!), they had a party. Now, let me just say that they throw parties every couple of weeks or so. These parties always start at about 8 in the morning and go on well into the next day. They get drunk and sing “My Heart Will Go On” nonstop. Their guests also park in front of OUR (mine, my sister’s, my mum’s) gates, blocking our right of way, so we all have to sorta walk sideways towards each other’s houses like crabs.

Anyhow, this particular night, The Husband was taking out the trash. By sheer chance, he actually caught the son pissing against OUR wall! WTF? Naturally, the husband told him off and told one of his friends who was parking in front of our gate to move his car. He then proceeded to hose down the urine best as he could.

I think he handled it pretty well, considering how the whole pissing thing is something that we both seriously loathe. He went back inside the house and we watched TV for the next couple of hours, putting the incident behind us.

Just as we were getting ready for bed, however, we heard a bit of a ruckus outside the house. When we looked out of our bedroom window, lo and behold! It was the son – drunk, shit-faced, and raving. He kept saying: “Fuck you, bitch!” (Fack you, betch!), “You’re so O.A., bitch!” (You’re so O.A. [over-acting], betch!) “Motherfuck!” (Mother-fack!), “Come down here, bitch!” (Come down here, betch!), “Patyon ta mo tanan, bitch!” (I will kill you all, betch!) Well, you get the picture.

I told the husband to ignore him because he was drunk, which he did. We even laughed about it as his friends dragged him back into their house. That should’ve been the end of it, but not five minutes later, he was at it again! This time, his parents came out to drag him back into the house while we watched, still from our bedroom window.

Again, that would’ve been the end of it, but horror of all horrors, his mother comes back out and starts ranting! She started ranting about how we complain a lot and how it’s amazing that we’re acting like we own the place when we’ve only just moved there a few months ago. She was an old lady, so I tried to reason with her. I calmly told her how we caught her son pissing against our walls and how we needed our right of way. You won’t believe it, but she actually said we should just let her guests piss on our walls and park in front of our gates because it’s her 60th birthday. And that’s not the end of it. She actually accused US of ruining HER birthday.

What. The. Fuck.

I totally lost it. But I didn’t lose it first. Our landlady and her husband (who lives right across from them) heard everything and got to her first. Being decent people, they tried to reason with her, but NO, she just won’t be swayed. To make matters worse, her son was still somewhere in the background, screaming his endless litany of “Fack yous” and “Betches.“

And it gets better. Our landlady asked her, “How would you like it if we all just peed on YOUR walls because we’re having a party?” You know what she and her husband (who joined the fray at this point) said? They actually said we’re FREE to do so!

We were all absolutely mortified! So just because they act like animals, they expect us to do the same? I’m sorry, but we’re not disgusting people with small brains. In fact, I’d be surprised if there’s a single brain cell shared amongst everyone in that house. And to think they’re a pretty well-off family, too, and maybe even fairly educated. You’d think they’d have a modicum of respect and consideration for other people and other people’s property, but NO. They’re just as bad as the most uneducated beggar on the street. Hell, I’ve seen beggars with better manners, and Lord knows how that’s saying something.

So this, ladies and gentlemen, is why this country will never go anywhere. What is it with Filipino men and their predilection to peeing everywhere they feel like? Why is it that many Filipinos have this sense of entitlement to things that they are not, should not, and would never be entitled to, such as their neighbor’s right of way? It’s sad, pathetic, and completely unacceptable. I’m sorry if it seems like I’m generalizing, but every decent Filipino who reads this would know the exact kind of people I’m talking about and would, therefore, take no offense.

I love my city and my country. It saddens me to see people using it as a toilet. It annoys me even more, knowing that these people actually BELIEVE with all their hearts that they are entitled to befoul other people’s property. The urine may eventually wash off and the smell may eventually go away. But it’s a violation that no amount of industrial products could ever clean up.

Yes, sad to say, my country is going to the dogs. No surprise there when the majority of the population insist on acting like dogs. It’s a thought that truly depresses me.