NEIGHBOURS

Not only are my new neighbours the talk of other residents in the road, they are uppermost in my prayers. Yes, every night I pray that they will stop what they are doing and leave us all in peace.  Sadly, that is now impossible.

Two ladies, sisters, bought the bungalow next to mine shortly after Joe died and they couldn’t wait to make alterations. Three days after moving in they had all the lovely trees removed – not just cut down but REMOVED, roots and all. The hedge that divided our properties at the front was also removed, with lots of drilling and digging in the process. What was responsible for my privacy was removed and there was nothing I could do about it since I didn’t own a single leaf.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, work began on the actual building. The idea was to turn the loft into a bedroom, extend the kitchen, scrap what was adjoining the house and replace with a small conservatory type construction. What they didn’t tell me was the intention to have a window/door on the ‘loft’ reconstruction which meant my privacy would completely disappear. At one time I could have sunbathed naked in my garden, unseen by any neighbours. Now I can’t be so bold even if I wanted to – not with that window/door people can look out of and no trees to hide me.

I can see it with my own eyes now that a lot of the work is done, almost six months of it, and I can tell you that I am not a happy bunny. The bungalow no longer exists in its former state and I have yet to learn what the folk think on the other side of the house.

Every day we have been surrounded by workmen’s high-sided vans that park here all day. And cars! Some cars are parked all night and we have no idea who they belong to. Our road used to be so quiet, too ... but things were like that 25 years ago. Anything goes now!

An interesting point was raised by a few neighbours ... had planning permission been obtained for the work? Of course, I can’t answer that question but the view of many is that neighbours are normally consulted if work of this sort was given permission. Well I certainly wasn’t informed and according to neighbours neither were they. 

Oh my goodness, think of the upset if they were right. The intolerable noise that went with the alterations was bad enough, I can’t imagine how awful it would be if they were forced to tear it all down.

Images

Come on, own up, who built that house in my garden?

The house is, of course, my next door neighbour's abode and the vision brick wall is what separates us. The reflection is great but I prefer it not to obliterate most of the old Beech and all of the Silver Birch tree.