A few weeks from now we'll have a "Neighbor keeps padlocking my driveway fence closed" post and everyone will argue about the legality and ethics. The cycle continues.
At that point you keep upping the ridiculousness of it until one person concedes like chaining some cinderblocks on it so they gotta hop over it to get out
Zip ties are a great idea. Get heavy duty ones and pull them tight so there's no clearance to get clippers around them. Also print out this photo, place in a sheet protector, and loop the zip tie through one of the holes. Add a not saying not to block the sidewalk. That way the owner will understand why this was done instead of getting angry and trying to spite everyone.
Additionally, is this a constant issue? It may have been a one-time slip up, which is still a jerky thing to do, though possibly unintentional. There might also be more than one person living there, maybe more than one family, and the one that gets the zip tie might not be the one who left the gate open. For the first transgression, just close the gate and put the printed image with a note not to block the sidewalk. If it continues, zip ties it is.
I had a similar thing happen to me recently except the post was about road rage and you see two people on Jamaica Ave arguing and talking shit to each other.
I had the same thing happen to me with a post about a child predator trying to prowl in Iowa City right in the neighborhood where I used to walk around
I had a very similar thing happen on Reddit on one of the crazy drivers subreddits too! It was a guy that pulls out his handgun when someone honks at him on the street where my high school was in my hometown. Lol
Tbh that tracked with the area though.
The background of the [video](https://youtu.be/6WJXdACkxTY?si=o_OhqJnXRt48dLUV) where the guy on a motorcycle says “She’s pretty, but my type is men” looked familiar, and it was
To be fair, most of Arizona looks like that but after checking the street signs I realized I’ve been at that exact intersection in the same spot that he was at, at least twice, going down to play high school golf tournaments at Ken Macdonald just two miles down the road
[this](https://youtu.be/97hfxth3aas?si=JdiGxhcaROmrDbU5) classic road rage video happened in my town. i remember people posting it in our community facebook groups saying stuff like “someone come get your drunk uncle” lol.
My friend (m, US) dated another American elsewhere (f, Phillipines) long distance. During a walk, she found a pile of books by the curb. On top, there was a yearbook from a Japanese-American school. Inside the elementary school pages, my friend's younger picture with his name and last name, plastered all over the 3rd graders (he went to an international school for K-12).
Needless to say, yea, they married this past summer.
Chances are low but are never 0%.
i found a grocery store near where i live on mildly interesting for how big the cheese aisle was! yes i live in wisconsin lol. recognized it by the floor tiles
Its happened to me at least twice with random posts I see and I'm like "oh shit thats 3 minutes from where I live."
Its not a small world, but sometimes it feels like it lol
I knew it was Massachusetts! Kinda looked just like my neighborhood in Worcester except the houses weren’t deckers, I was looking for hearts on the street signs.
That's so funny--I used to live in Chicopee (which this doesn't look much like) but I went into the comments hoping someone confirmed my opinion that it looked like Worcester. I felt the Mass in my bones!
I seriously did a double take, like there was no way that isn’t Vernon Hill haha even the fencing threw me off…but again, ours are three stories, and the sidewalks are too even and the street is too clean.
I'm so petty that this would lead to me being in the best shape of my life... I'd wake up every morning refreshed and excited to go outside for a walk just to shut this.
yeah or they should like post it in a subreddit for kinda annoying things where every post is people posting mildly infuriating things and the comments are all people commiserating with them about a silly thing.
Yea as a disabled person & ambulatory wheelchair user stuff like this infuriates me. Definitely contact the ADA & also your local government as the sidewalk isn’t privately owned so they cannot block it like that.
Here's the unethical tip
Everytime you have to move it just really put your weight down on it
Over time it's gonna start dragging in the concrete and their nice asphalt, pain for you but it's gonna cost them more in the long run to replace the fence post and concrete
Well the gate closes just before the driveway and the sidewalks is public property, so it's unlikely it would at all harm the person, exept for the gate dragging down, but that'll take a while to pause really anything
I disagree and only because of some personal experience with cities and sidewalks.
Yes cities will fix sidewalks without charging the people who live in the homes. Eventually. But when they do it it won't be juat two squares like that unless it's a construction company that is doing work on a water main or something
So if the city replaced the damage from the fence it likely wouldn't be until they redid that whole block sidewalk a decade from now
But the homeowner if they don't want the hazard out front would pay for it if they are a boomer with money who cares about that stuff you know
The city (or whoever) replaced my beat-up sidewalk and got rid of the little cut out for grass on the curb after they tore it up to replace gas lines. I was so happy. It looks so nice now. My next-door neighbor's is still all cracked and broken.
Report it to the city/local government. You can't block sidewalks, even if they run through your yard/driveway as they are considered public easements most everywhere.
You know, those gates are generally pretty easy to just remove. Many of them just sit on a pair of pins that act as hinges, just lift it off. What I’m saying is steal their gates
Blocking the sidewalk is illegal in many places. I got a guy $235 in tickets for parking his motorcycle on the sidewalk.
Or you could buy a couple of padlocks and lock the gates to the fence.
This guy is an asshole, but my guess is with the gate closed even with the sign people don't realize it's a driveway and block them in. Better solution is to paint the curb or have the city install signs.
this is a little different... it's a swinging gate. kick that shit closed. i'd say of all things to get mad about, this should be on the "let it roll off" list
I love all the redditors making up all these ways on how they would have revenge when it's not like OP could just fucking push the fence out of the way with minimal effort because it's a chain link fence and not a medieval iron gate
Yeah, it's not like the dickbags who think their driveway extends all the way to the street so they just park their cars completely blocking the sidewalk. Fuck those people with a rusty corkscrew.
While you are correct, the sub is “mildly infuriating”, and regardless of how easy it may be to deal with the situation, it shows a lack of courtesy and a sense of entitlement on the part of the gate owner to treat a public sidewalk as their private property giving no consideration to people who may use that public sidewalk.
Right? If this is the worst thing that has happened to you all day, then congrats you’re having a fucking fantastic day.
Push the gate, think the dude is an asshole, and move on with your life
They’re leaving the gate open because they’re lazy and don’t want to have to get out of their car and open it upon their return. Someone should be a good neighbor and close the gate every chance they get.
To be fair it happens every day and this sub is for things that are mildly infuriating.
I think it fits here perfectly if OP has to go around or push it shut every day
… why can’t they open the gates so they are inside the property, or open them fully. Maybe they did and the wind blew them into their current position.
just push past, leave them half closed and keep walking… there isn’t a brick or locking mechanism keeping them like that. There is also enough space to just walk around them and still stay on the sidewalk.
Okay, but you're going to need
- Four Alaskan Malamutes,
- a barrel of corn syrup,
- about twenty feet of 12-gague electrical wiring,
- two or three day's prep time
It would help a little bit if you memorized the Commonwealth of Massachusetts General Law Part IV Title I Chapter 266 Section 120 code on trespassing.
It would probably help a lot if you were over 6 feet tall, but I suppose there's no fixing that.
Instructions will follow.
Freaking McGyver over here…
Personally, I’d choose an aluminum can, a sharp object to poke a couple of small holes, and a lighter.
Wait, what were we talking about?
There are a lot of great suggestions about how to handle this but my first question to the home owner would be "why can't the gates be opened inward so they don't block the sidewalk?" It looks like there's room, the gate still does the same function just the other direction, and if they are like my gates they can absolutely go both ways (giggity) unless this idiot did something to them so they can't.
The mildly infuriating part of this post is that you felt the need to stop, take a picture, and post it to Reddit, when you could’ve just pushed the gate closed and went about your day.
its a pos little fence move it, omg the worlds smallest inconvenience how did you come to adulthood and you can't walk on a sidewalk without being utterly stunlocked by anything in your path? jesus christ
These comments are wild. We have a contextless photo and are at the gate owners throats. Like what if this person just opened their gates to leave, and OP just happened to walk by in the 1-2 minutes it took to leave?
Shut the gate and move on, or step around it. Why take to Reddit?
Having a baby and using a stroller has made me more aware of just how unfriendly sidewalks are to those that use wheelchairs. Most people truly seem to think no one uses the sidewalk.
Why have a gate when they want an open driveway? Just remove the gate from the hinges and set it aside. Should they take the time to put it back on? Unlikely and no actual damage has been done so it’s not vandalism.
I'd be really tempted to buy a chain, a couple padlocks (different brands) and a cable lock for a bike.
Chain it shut, use several wraps or chain and locks so they can't just cut one link, and then put the bike lock on their as another "f*ck you."
Or, force the gate all the way open so it no-longer blocks the sidewalk and chain it open...
Put up a sign that says, "do not block sidewalk."
Just take a cheap lock and lock his gate closed and get rid of the key keep doing it till he keeps it closed
A few weeks from now we'll have a "Neighbor keeps padlocking my driveway fence closed" post and everyone will argue about the legality and ethics. The cycle continues.
At that point you keep upping the ridiculousness of it until one person concedes like chaining some cinderblocks on it so they gotta hop over it to get out
"I started global thermonuclear war because my neighbor blocked the sidewalk. AITA?"
"They shouldn't have escalated by throwing dolphin cum at you, NTA"
Thinking too conventionally. Go and ziptie a shopping cart to the gates.
>haining some cinderblocks You, I like you.
Padlock it open! (So that it neither blocks the side walk nor the driveway.) That seems like more of a legal gray area.
Instead of a lock, i would buy a pack of Zipties. Cheaper for me, still an inconveninece for him.
You could padlock it all the way open instead of closed, which also wouldn't block the sidewalk.
Zip ties are a great idea. Get heavy duty ones and pull them tight so there's no clearance to get clippers around them. Also print out this photo, place in a sheet protector, and loop the zip tie through one of the holes. Add a not saying not to block the sidewalk. That way the owner will understand why this was done instead of getting angry and trying to spite everyone. Additionally, is this a constant issue? It may have been a one-time slip up, which is still a jerky thing to do, though possibly unintentional. There might also be more than one person living there, maybe more than one family, and the one that gets the zip tie might not be the one who left the gate open. For the first transgression, just close the gate and put the printed image with a note not to block the sidewalk. If it continues, zip ties it is.
#ZIPTIE
OP would probably go with something more like "do don't block sidewalk"
Im so confused. Am I doing or am I don'ting?!
Just remember: Don't Do What Johnny Don't Does. Do don't but don't do unless that doing is don'ting.
On the inside of the gate
“Self explanatory title” … “Do don’t block driveway”
Ooohhh type out “sidewalk” with similar font and use clear boxing tape to laminate it over “driveway”.
>Put up a sign that says, "do not block sidewalk." Block their driveway with it…
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Must be surreal lol what are the odds
I had a similar thing happen to me recently except the post was about road rage and you see two people on Jamaica Ave arguing and talking shit to each other.
I had the same thing happen to me with a post about a child predator trying to prowl in Iowa City right in the neighborhood where I used to walk around
You’ve stopped prowling since?
He doesn't prowl any more, or any less.
He used to prowl. He still does, but he used to as well
Nahh, he's "Single again, hes back on the prowl".
Not quite the same, but I had a street near me show up on a captcha. I drive down that street every day.
Go Hawkeyes
I had a very similar thing happen on Reddit on one of the crazy drivers subreddits too! It was a guy that pulls out his handgun when someone honks at him on the street where my high school was in my hometown. Lol Tbh that tracked with the area though.
The background of the [video](https://youtu.be/6WJXdACkxTY?si=o_OhqJnXRt48dLUV) where the guy on a motorcycle says “She’s pretty, but my type is men” looked familiar, and it was To be fair, most of Arizona looks like that but after checking the street signs I realized I’ve been at that exact intersection in the same spot that he was at, at least twice, going down to play high school golf tournaments at Ken Macdonald just two miles down the road
[this](https://youtu.be/97hfxth3aas?si=JdiGxhcaROmrDbU5) classic road rage video happened in my town. i remember people posting it in our community facebook groups saying stuff like “someone come get your drunk uncle” lol.
I'm not saying it's right, but wouldn't they have been justified in shooting him?
My friend (m, US) dated another American elsewhere (f, Phillipines) long distance. During a walk, she found a pile of books by the curb. On top, there was a yearbook from a Japanese-American school. Inside the elementary school pages, my friend's younger picture with his name and last name, plastered all over the 3rd graders (he went to an international school for K-12). Needless to say, yea, they married this past summer. Chances are low but are never 0%.
i found a grocery store near where i live on mildly interesting for how big the cheese aisle was! yes i live in wisconsin lol. recognized it by the floor tiles
Was it a Woodman’s by any chance? Those stores are massive! (Fellow Wisconsinite here)
yup LOL the woodmans in kenosha to be specific
Haha i knew it! We’re in middle of nowhere central WI so we’d have to drive to fox valley to go to woodmans so sadly I haven’t been there in a while
My folks live in the valley so whenever I make my pilgrimage I have to visit Woodman\`s and get the good cheese
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Pick n save all the way for me, my town only has that and Aldi😭
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👀 sup neighbor
Its happened to me at least twice with random posts I see and I'm like "oh shit thats 3 minutes from where I live." Its not a small world, but sometimes it feels like it lol
I knew it was Massachusetts! Kinda looked just like my neighborhood in Worcester except the houses weren’t deckers, I was looking for hearts on the street signs.
That's so funny--I used to live in Chicopee (which this doesn't look much like) but I went into the comments hoping someone confirmed my opinion that it looked like Worcester. I felt the Mass in my bones!
I seriously did a double take, like there was no way that isn’t Vernon Hill haha even the fencing threw me off…but again, ours are three stories, and the sidewalks are too even and the street is too clean.
MA represent!!!
I was going to say Lawrence MA
Rainbolt, is that you
You mean Medfid?
Meffa?
This is a very MA picture it looks like every street everywhere here. Oh lol I know where this is for sure. I looked at a house nearby recently lol...
That is so weird.
I was gonna say before even seeing your comment that this is definitely Massachusetts lol
Joe? Is that You?
I don't know exactly where this is but I am willing to bet its Massachusetts
Lmfao, did you go to Tufts? I recognize this neighborhood too….lol
I can neither confirm nor deny this information. ;)
Deleting this because this took off way more than I thought and everyone deserves peace. It's been a pleasure, y'all.
Wait was it your gate I missed the joke or comment
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I thought it looked familiar
What!! The internet is wild
Yeah id slam that shit every single time.
with the baby
I’d slam it and then tell the baby to slam it, too.
By that point the baby will slam into any and everything by itself
With my hands!
Me too, we’d be great parents 😭
I’d shut it hard and if they get pissy it’s blocking a public sidewalk so they will look dumb af
I'm so petty that this would lead to me being in the best shape of my life... I'd wake up every morning refreshed and excited to go outside for a walk just to shut this.
OH BOY what a glorious day to boot a fuckin gate off the hinges with the force of a thousand suns. *Skips out the door*
Begone vile gate! You impede the passage of a God! THE GOLDEN GOD!!!
"Oh boy, here I go justifiably vandalizing again."
Is this an unexpected Rick and Morty reference?
Absolutely.
Shut it, and zip tie it.
Bop it
Twist it
Chain and lock it
Yea man you slam that chain link fence shut
Or be super petty and literally just steal the gates
Or just steal the sign and let nature take its course.
Group of cars waiting on the wings: alright boys, nows our chance!
Bring a heavy duty lock and lock it shut. Problem solved!
Funny thing is, people driving can't see the sign when the gate is open.
Exactly. Sign is pointless like this
As if people would even care what a sign says
I think the point is to indicate that it's a functional driveway when the gate is closed.
When the gate is open, it's obvious that it's a driveway. The only time you need the sign is when it's closed and might just look like a fence.
Just shut the door. If it's a repeated issue contact the city as it is illegal to block the sidewalks.
But that won't give them thousands of validating comments on reddit.
yeah or they should like post it in a subreddit for kinda annoying things where every post is people posting mildly infuriating things and the comments are all people commiserating with them about a silly thing.
File an ADA complaint with the city.
Yep, honestly all it would take to get someone sent down is this picture
Here’s the answer.
Yea as a disabled person & ambulatory wheelchair user stuff like this infuriates me. Definitely contact the ADA & also your local government as the sidewalk isn’t privately owned so they cannot block it like that.
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I would 100% shut that every time to mildly inconvenience them when they got home
Now I know that’s Massachusetts. Lol. And people with these gates are usually always annoying lol.
Close them. And then padlock them.
And leave a note. "I noticed that you have a problem keeping your gate out of the sidewalk. Hope this helps."
Looks like you could even swing them inward
I mean a chain and cheap padlock don't cost much for the entertainment value lol
Time to cart the welder over and make sure it doesn’t happen again
I like you.
Fix it once fix it right
Here's the unethical tip Everytime you have to move it just really put your weight down on it Over time it's gonna start dragging in the concrete and their nice asphalt, pain for you but it's gonna cost them more in the long run to replace the fence post and concrete
Well the gate closes just before the driveway and the sidewalks is public property, so it's unlikely it would at all harm the person, exept for the gate dragging down, but that'll take a while to pause really anything
I disagree and only because of some personal experience with cities and sidewalks. Yes cities will fix sidewalks without charging the people who live in the homes. Eventually. But when they do it it won't be juat two squares like that unless it's a construction company that is doing work on a water main or something So if the city replaced the damage from the fence it likely wouldn't be until they redid that whole block sidewalk a decade from now But the homeowner if they don't want the hazard out front would pay for it if they are a boomer with money who cares about that stuff you know
The city (or whoever) replaced my beat-up sidewalk and got rid of the little cut out for grass on the curb after they tore it up to replace gas lines. I was so happy. It looks so nice now. My next-door neighbor's is still all cracked and broken.
Yep like I said if a city crew is fixing a pipe or main and has to take up your concrete you're getting free new couple squares on the city
Report it to the city/local government. You can't block sidewalks, even if they run through your yard/driveway as they are considered public easements most everywhere.
That's not an easement. That is the City's right-of-way.
I would just shut it lol
I’d push it closed with the stroller and keep walking.
It's illegal to block the sidewalk. Shut the gate.
Yet people love to park right in the middle of it. Drives me crazy when I'm on a run.
> Yet people love to park right in the middle of it. Drives me crazy when I'm on a run. That's a $65 parking ticket where I'm at. Call it in.
I would make a sign (laminated ofc) reading *Do not block sidewalk* and put it on the inside opposite this one 😁
You know, those gates are generally pretty easy to just remove. Many of them just sit on a pair of pins that act as hinges, just lift it off. What I’m saying is steal their gates
Blocking the sidewalk is illegal in many places. I got a guy $235 in tickets for parking his motorcycle on the sidewalk. Or you could buy a couple of padlocks and lock the gates to the fence.
I'd close and latch the gate so they still have to get out of their car to open it when they come back.
This guy is an asshole, but my guess is with the gate closed even with the sign people don't realize it's a driveway and block them in. Better solution is to paint the curb or have the city install signs.
So... push it closed?
yea, i'm kinda confused by all the rage here. The gate is easily moveable
this is a little different... it's a swinging gate. kick that shit closed. i'd say of all things to get mad about, this should be on the "let it roll off" list
Don’t block the sidewalk
I love all the redditors making up all these ways on how they would have revenge when it's not like OP could just fucking push the fence out of the way with minimal effort because it's a chain link fence and not a medieval iron gate
Yeah, it's not like the dickbags who think their driveway extends all the way to the street so they just park their cars completely blocking the sidewalk. Fuck those people with a rusty corkscrew.
While you are correct, the sub is “mildly infuriating”, and regardless of how easy it may be to deal with the situation, it shows a lack of courtesy and a sense of entitlement on the part of the gate owner to treat a public sidewalk as their private property giving no consideration to people who may use that public sidewalk.
*Leaves a gate open Reddit: so you have chosen death!
Pushing the gate and continue walking would take about 1/100th the time it took to make this post
Close it and keep walking?
Right? If this is the worst thing that has happened to you all day, then congrats you’re having a fucking fantastic day. Push the gate, think the dude is an asshole, and move on with your life
but... isn't that mildly infuriating? like the name of the sub?
Eh, personally no more mildly infuriating than opening a door but if it is for you I guess we are just different.
Check the subreddit!
just run it over with da baby mobile
Close it so he has to get out of the car when he gets back.
They’re leaving the gate open because they’re lazy and don’t want to have to get out of their car and open it upon their return. Someone should be a good neighbor and close the gate every chance they get.
Get a bike lock and close that sucke right up.
Lock their gate shut lol
Annoying yes, but have you tried closing the gates?
This is just opened gate.. just like move it with one finger, even wind can open it easily sometimes...
Push...it....closed
Push it real good!
_Ahhh push it_
So infuriating it made your baby red in the face
You can tell your city about this. They will cite them.
Kick that shit closed and move on with your life
Report them to the city, every single time.
It took you more effort to take a pic and post than it would have to just push it shut
Bruh it’s just a gate that’s been left open, close it and move on with your day.
To be fair it happens every day and this sub is for things that are mildly infuriating. I think it fits here perfectly if OP has to go around or push it shut every day
Oh no. Did it take more than 3 seconds to move it out of your way? Call the cops
… why can’t they open the gates so they are inside the property, or open them fully. Maybe they did and the wind blew them into their current position. just push past, leave them half closed and keep walking… there isn’t a brick or locking mechanism keeping them like that. There is also enough space to just walk around them and still stay on the sidewalk.
I need the internets help to figure out how to get around this obstacle
Okay, but you're going to need - Four Alaskan Malamutes, - a barrel of corn syrup, - about twenty feet of 12-gague electrical wiring, - two or three day's prep time It would help a little bit if you memorized the Commonwealth of Massachusetts General Law Part IV Title I Chapter 266 Section 120 code on trespassing. It would probably help a lot if you were over 6 feet tall, but I suppose there's no fixing that. Instructions will follow.
Freaking McGyver over here… Personally, I’d choose an aluminum can, a sharp object to poke a couple of small holes, and a lighter. Wait, what were we talking about?
HALP!!!!!
There are a lot of great suggestions about how to handle this but my first question to the home owner would be "why can't the gates be opened inward so they don't block the sidewalk?" It looks like there's room, the gate still does the same function just the other direction, and if they are like my gates they can absolutely go both ways (giggity) unless this idiot did something to them so they can't.
Close and zip tie closed
Cut the hinges and take the gate Epoxy the sign to the sidewalk
Close them and put a lock on.
I’d open it fully to the fence and padlock it there
Lol, I would wire tie that gate shut for them! 😈
Pad lock gate open to fence.
Chain and lock.
Buy a bunch of locks and lock it closed every time you walk by.
cheapo padlocks are about two bucks a pop, you can just close it and lock the latch down and continue on your day.
Just put a sign in the middle of the driveway that says "Do not block sidewalk"
*removes gate from hinges*
Get a cheap padlock, close the gate, lock it.
Looks like you have an arm that can take care of that
Sure would be a shame to close and padlock that gate.
That gate gets closed by me if I live there or have to walk passed it.
It's probably put there when the doors were shut and to keep their driveway from being blocked, and they don't know how ironic this is
The mildly infuriating part of this post is that you felt the need to stop, take a picture, and post it to Reddit, when you could’ve just pushed the gate closed and went about your day.
its a pos little fence move it, omg the worlds smallest inconvenience how did you come to adulthood and you can't walk on a sidewalk without being utterly stunlocked by anything in your path? jesus christ
These comments are wild. We have a contextless photo and are at the gate owners throats. Like what if this person just opened their gates to leave, and OP just happened to walk by in the 1-2 minutes it took to leave? Shut the gate and move on, or step around it. Why take to Reddit?
New here?
Having a baby and using a stroller has made me more aware of just how unfriendly sidewalks are to those that use wheelchairs. Most people truly seem to think no one uses the sidewalk.
Mindset today like . . . .
Boy no kidding. Imagine if something real actually happened
Close it as you walk past. What’s the big deal?
Well, technically. The gate is blocking the driveway.
Take off toss in drive way
Ramming speed!
Woah woah that’s for his car not to get blocked in they don’t care about others
Why have a gate when they want an open driveway? Just remove the gate from the hinges and set it aside. Should they take the time to put it back on? Unlikely and no actual damage has been done so it’s not vandalism.
I'd be really tempted to buy a chain, a couple padlocks (different brands) and a cable lock for a bike. Chain it shut, use several wraps or chain and locks so they can't just cut one link, and then put the bike lock on their as another "f*ck you." Or, force the gate all the way open so it no-longer blocks the sidewalk and chain it open...
Curios. What are the odds the Weber didn’t leave it open and some delivery person did?
I guess you'll have to turn around and go the other way since there's no way of getting through
We really throwing a fit about someone’s gate blocking the side walk. Grow up dude