Tempers frayed

I was woken this morning at 5.30am by a loud knocking on the front door followed by the door bell.  I knew who it was because I recognised the shrill voice talking to herself.  I went downstairs and opened the door to my neighbour, Marie Jo.  She was irate; she frequently is but usually with Jean Pierre across the street, not with me.  'Have you taken the wrong bin?' she demanded, in French of course.  Standing there in my dressing gown I pleaded innocent.  'I heard them empty them about half an hour ago,' I said trying to  be helpful.   'Come with me,' she ordered.  If she had been dressed in a police uniform I would have followed but I draw the line at going out in the street in my dressing gown to look at bins, although many French people do, even to the shop.  I ran upstairs and pulled on jeans and t shirt and followed Marie Jo to  the corner of the street.   I stood staring at the three bins and I couldn't deny that hers was missing.  It was barely dawn but I peered along the road.  'Perhaps they have put it back along there,' I suggested.  'I have checked them,' she said testily.  Why wouldn't she have?   Marie Jo gets up about 4 am.  There was little I could do but take my bin back to my house.   She followed me of course, going on about the world and all its woes.

It was about ten minutes later that I was in the bathroom upstairs when I noticed Marie Jo's bin in Jean Pierre's yard.  Marie Jo was washing her garage doors.  Don't we all before six o'clock in the morning?  I called out to her and told her.  What a tirade.  Standing in the middle of the road she said Jean Pierre was a menace.  He had broken her fence three times and she was so angry with him she had demanded he pay her etc. etc.  Now Jean Pierre is annoying.  After all it was he who unplugged my freezers while I was away for 2 months, with no explanation or excuse whatsoever.   After pretending to listen for about 15 minutes Marie Jo finally ran out of steam.   She marched over to Jean Pierre's bin and pulled it in front of his gate.  I can't wait to see and hear what Jean Pierre is in for when he appears.