Having family nearby can be a bonus in many ways – but do you lose a level of privacy if they’re right next door?
This week on ‘So You Think You’re an Adult’, one letter writer asked whether he should stop his sister bidding on a house down the street from him.
“My sister recently told me completely out of the blue that she and her husband decided to put in a bid on a house that has recently come up for sale on my road,” he told Moncrieff.
“I was so taken aback and so affected by her excitement that initially I felt delighted by the prospect – but my wife quickly brought me back down to earth.
“She says they will be living too close to us, that we will lose our privacy and that it would be better for us to maintain a certain level of distance.
“My wife has never been particularly close to my sister or her husband; she finds her a little cold and thinks she’s self-centred – but I get on very, very well with her.
“Should I try and convince my wife to get on board or go I down the tricky route and discourage my sister from bidding on the house?”
Group of a friends enjoying outdoor dinner party. IMage: Vadym Drobot / Alamy. 25 August 2015TV personality Declan Buckley said this letter writer needs to figure out what it is he wants.
“The wife is quite clear about what she’s saying – she's saying, ‘I don’t particularly get on with your sister, I don’t particularly want her living next door’,” he said.
“I can see her perspective; do I think it’s the right perspective? Not necessarily, because the brother has what seems to be a fairly good relationship with his sister.
“In a normal world, for me, who cares if she’s living a few doors down the road? Is she going to be knocking in, looking for nosiness? I don’t know.
“I assume she’s been in their house before, so that’s why I’m kind of going, what is the real problem?”
'She's probably got the message'
Actress Mary McEvoy said she would question why the sister is moving so close by if she actually is as cold and unfeeling as the letter writer’s wife had made her out to be.
“Certainly, in my opinion, I would not try to discourage the woman from buying a house,” she said.
“Nobody can go and just click their fingers and the house comes out, so I’d say, see what happens.
“I don’t think there’s going to be a blow up of any description, I don’t think they’re going to turn up on the doorstep every five minutes.
“I think she’s probably got the message from the wife anyway, because women are quite intuitive in that way.”
Mary said if no one has put together that the letter writer’s wife isn’t the biggest fan of his sister, he could stir up drama by revealing that fact now.
Main image: A man walking past 'For Sale' signs in Dublin, 5-5-22. Image: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie
