Upset neighbour

I have tried so hard to fit in with everyone here and not to cause any friction and not to put anyone's nose out of joint. I guess that inevitably I was going to put a foot wrong somewhere along the line and today something that had been worrying me came back to haunt me.

During the initial renovation we struggled to know what to do with all the debris and rubbish. Operation Barney accounted for quite a lot but, frankly, we were a bit embarrassed to put it all by the bins and expect the dustmen to take it all away. So we utilised an empty room on the ground floor that appeared to be totally unused.

My plan was to get the debris and rubbish out of the areas that we were renovating and into this unused space - and then when we had finished everything, I would hire a van and we would take it all to the local waste disposal.

There appeared to be no harm done - the door to this room was open, the room had obviously not been used or cleaned for years and no-one had ever been seen entering or leaving it.

For a while, after moving our rubbish down there, I would, bit by bit, take it out to the bins for disposal - but then suddenly there was a lock on the door and I couldn't get access. I assumed that the managing agents had fitted the lock but it appears that there is an owner of that space and, suddenly, he wants to do something with it and is mightily pissed off that I have dumped a load of rubbish in it in the meantime. It is he who put the padlock on it and it is he and his mother that I met today.

I was on my way down to the courtyard with a bucket of water to wash the car - it being a bit dirty from the sand in the recent rain - when I was confronted by a boggle eyed French matriarch and, what I presume to be, her son. I didn't want to argue with them and actually was in no position to do so because I was indeed guilty of dumping rubbish in their apartment and also because I couldn't understand most of what they were barking at me - so much for my French lessons!

I told them that I would organise the removal of the debris and went to speak to the managing agents to see if they knew someone who would take it all away and because they need to co-ordinate it with the owner, who has the key to the space. I am waiting to hear back from them. At least when it is all gone I can stop worrying about it.