Dear Prudence,
My partner and I moved into a new house three months ago. We have an older couple as neighbors, and one of them, a man of 70, tends to give us instructions. He has told my partner not to grow bamboo along our shared fence because it may block his light. He addressed my partner as “boy” and told him to put bricks along the underside of the gate so our (too big for small gaps and not adventurous) dog would not escape. We have acquiesced. He sometimes looks between the posts of the fence when we are in the backyard and sometimes, usually when we are out, he leans over the fence in the front yard to sort of inspect the house. He has difficulty communicating—he is either hard of hearing or possibly struggles with English. How should we handle this? We don’t think he means badly. But my partner gets anxious about it, and I don’t love it either.
—Sometimes Neighbor, Sometimes Spy