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So, my street started out being very, very quiet. We moved in, a few months later a neighbour Diane moved in at the end of the street with her husband John, they were lovely people and I'd stop by so Jake could play with their dog, Marty, and we'd have a chat. Our next door neighbour was so quiet, we didn't even know someone was living next door.

A few months ago this changed. I believe the catalyst was a woman up the street, Veronica, began hanging out with Diane. Veronica is also quite nice on her own, but I have to avoid her because she really scares Jake.

Veronica and Diane I think would get too much into drinking, nothing aggressive or abusive just... Too much. One time I had to help her home from walking in the park she was so drunk, she kept trying to claim someone spiked her drink but from what I've seen since then, she just overdoes it.

She also started having disputes with her husband, kicked him out, had her son move in (he came back and then left again a few times too, but I think he's done there.) And began hanging out with the guy in the attached house next door, David.

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I knew there were some conflicts going on at Diane's dinner parties because David told me Veronica's daughter had date-raped him and Veronica had gotten into a disagreement with one of the people there, harmed herself and called the police claiming she'd been assaulted. I took this with a grain of salt, but did think well, it might explain why she sets Jake off if she's not mentally stable. Her brother also lives in the house attached to Diane's and he's not mentally stable at all - screams in the house, feeds rats, etc.

So, I'd already been avoiding them, thinking I wanted to make sure I didn't get involved with Jake and his stranger danger. In spite of his claims about her daughter, David kept hanging out with her, in spite of the claims about Veronica and David, Diane kept hanging out with them. I don't get it, at all. Diane says she 'needs' to because they're her neighbours, but I feel like that's an excuse because I'm certainly not hanging out with neighbours that fight or threaten each other, but anyway.

David and Veronica do not mix. They cycle between all getting a long and raging at each other including physical violence (loud enough the fire department heard and came over without even being called. According to Diane he beat the absolute shit out of her face, though I'm sceptical there too because while I didn't see it, I overheard the whole fight and I didn't hear anyone getting hit. Plus, she was talking about how her face was brutalised and she was too embarrassed to go outside, yet she was out behind my house the very next day.

TL;DR: I just end up having to treat everything everyone says with extreme scepticism.

The next time I came over I was quite sure I heard him hit her though - or at least, it sounded like flesh was being hit. Sure enough it was another altercation.

Meanwhile, her daughter (my age so... Not young) and herself had a falling out and her daughter has moved in with David and they fight half the nights.

Diane as she's started dating, has started leaving Marty at David's house all the time, and David doesn't keep an eye out for him. Last night (his gate latch is broken) Marty got out. I saw him leaving the park and tried to catch up to him, but he was clearly distressed and wouldn't come. He ran across the intersection and I was terrified he'd get hit by a car because their house is right on the intersection - if he tried to come back toward me in his confusion he'd cross the intersection again and get hit. Fortunately he was very keen on getting back into his garden (makes me wonder what happened originally that made him so distressed).

I knocked on the door and unfortunately got the son instead of David, told him what had happened, 'Ah he must have gotten out of Davie's garden' (he's your dog!).

I feel so bad for Marty, if my fencing and gates were replaced I'd let him hang out with us.

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It's a shame that it went from being such a quiet street to basically what is the local steroetypical belief of what a council-housing neighbourhood looks like. Or like I've moved into a house next to my brother and all his friends. There has to be lots of alcohol and drugs involved along with complex mental health issues, that's what goes on with my brother and his friends and family.

Patrick and I need to try to get prepared so if David gets moved out, we can buy the house next door. If Patrick were moved in next door, 80% of the drama on the street would stop. He wouldn't be dating Veronica's daughter, interacting with Veronica, or Diane. So the only drama in the street would be Veronica's brother, but Patrick's hard of hearing and usually uses headphones anyway, so... He's the perfect next door neighbour for him.

Ugh, I hope they all stabilise. I feel horrible for all of them because by themselves they all seem very nice. They just don't mix well together. It really does remind me of my brother, it seems like some people are just addicted to drama, highs and lows.

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ETA: Ah as I've written this they have started screaming at each other again.