Why on earth does she not tell that child...

...that if he starts screaming before he even gets near enough to see my door and before Pereg sees him, of course she will start barking. It is his screaming that sets her off and his mother knows it, so instead of dragging him past kicking and screaming, why does she not tell him not to scream in the first place?

He could not even see her as she was on the couch behind me, but he started screaming all the same.

Nowt so annoying as folks I think is the answer to that one ! We used to have a child lived in the flat next to us when she met us on the stairs she would scream, got to the point she screamed even if I didn't have any of the dogs with me, I put it down to stupidity but I may have been being unfair.

Well children are an odd lot sometimes. Maybe she has explained it to him but he's too young to suspress his fear and reaction. I wonder why the parent doesn't walk on the other side of the street though!

It is just so unnecessary and only started a month or so back as the little boy always used to wave to me if my door was open with his mother was taking him to kindergarten or bringing him home, and he always looked for Pereg who, incidentally, has never been nearer than 10 metres to him.

And I am a wee bit annoyed as today is the first time I have been able to have to door open since the storms started [I am sitting here wearing an old woman's shawl over three layers of clothing, plus a fleece blanket over my knees] as I am trying to air the place out and dry out my carpet - [I have no idea what I am going to do about the thick layer of furry mould that has grown on the ceiling of my en-suite...]

Also the door has been closed because of the rain with Pereg only rushing out to p&p during the few breaks, so he has not seen her for over a week now. Something must have happened to him with another dog - maybe one of the pack of loose strays, but I would have thought that his mother would have had the sense to reassure him that Pereg cannot hurt him.

I mean why let him carry on screaming while she literally dragged him past? It has made me feel rather guilty for something that is neither Pereg's nor my fault.

Very odd. Something must have happened. Wonder why the woman doesn't pick him up before she gets to your house, or maybe she thinks that'll make him worse. Well it's not your fault and you know pereg won't/can't do anything so fingers crossed your house airs quickly. Xx

There's a good old Yorkshire saying"Tha's nowt so queer as folk"

OK so whose fault is it? Definitely not Pereg's. The woman came past a while ago having collected her child from Kindergarten. I caught sight of her just as she was passing my neighbour and she stopped to answer her cellphone. The child was perfectly quiet. She then slowly - very slowly - walked past my home, still talking on the phone, and very pointedly stopped at the end of my ramp and looked straight at me.

All the time the child was quiet. I did not turn my head, just watched out of the corner of my eye while she then carried on, still talking and still walking very slowly, and the child did not scream as he has been doing.

So how come he started this screaming and having to be dragged past by her? Pereg was once again on the couch behind me, but as there was no screaming she did not stir - she is quite used to hearing people talking on their cellphones as they walk past and ignores them, however loudly they are talking - which reminds me, why do people think that they should shout when using a cellphone?

That is odd isn't it ! Very strange neighbour you have there perhaps best to just rise above it all as they seem a little too odd to be able to talk out of this.

She is not a close neighbour Julie - she lives somewhere up the road but I have no idea where, I do not know her name and have never spoken to her. I only normally see her when she is going past with her child, not at any other time.