Abandoned Car on Overgrown Front Garden

moneyistooshorttomention

Pros and cons to being able to "act more independently" Dave. Conforming to "older" more "hierarchical" stuff can bring about some very odd/unsuitable things.

Right now - a friend of mine here bought a house that she found the community think carries some sort of "social manorial type obligations". She's gone along with it and is doing as expected - but I think the personal "cost" to her is most unfair in view of what some of these "obligations" are and I wouldnt do it in her place (far too restrictive of her own life) to try and do this sorta "lady of manor-ish" type role they obviously expect from her. There is a limit to what one does to try and "fit in" imo.:rotfl:

In reverse - I can see where someone thinks they can do a "hierarchical" imposition of stuff on me - and, in lighter moments, I see the funny side of it - as its not remotely appropriate in view of them being chavs (though I wouldnt accept it from someone "upper crusty" either....). The rest of the time - I just ignore it:)

martindow

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Right now - a friend of mine here bought a house that she found the community think carries some sort of "social manorial type obligations". She's gone along with it and is doing as expected

What does she have to do? Patronising the poor of the parish maybe, or is it along the lines of droit de seigneur?

DaftyDuck

You do wonder which way round the expectations actually are... I can imagine some rather bemused villagers who might not have "obviously expected..."

Ah, the World of MITSTM... an imagining by Terry Gilliam while on a bad dose of 'shrooms....

spadoosh

I just cant imagine hes going out of his way to offend people because of his untidy garden.

Apart from the fence panel and how it looks its just not effecting her. Ok so she doesnt like how it looks but on a similar instance i dont like the look of most new build houses. It would be ludicrous of me to suggest to someone that should try and do something about it.

Theres a house near me and someone has painted it baby blue. Looks hideous, in no way keeping with the area (not at the seaside), would you suggest that they repaint it?

Then there is the house with the bright pink front door. :eek:

As mentioned i like the idea of an abandoned car as a garden ornament, thinks its cool and querky. Although i think this idea is much better (sorry if i ruined the layou of the thread which it probably will)



Yay it didnt.

marksoton

Does a dog appear from said car at appropriate comedic times?

maisie_cat

This is a really interesting thread, didn't we fight wars to prevent people being told how to live their lives? I agree that if there are vermin their is an environmental issue, but who decides what is acceptable? I live in a road with a large elderly population, a neighbour thought he ought to tell me that my drive would look better if the 1970s tarmac was replaced with the epoxy bonded shingle. I told him that he is welcome to pay for it, but I can't afford it & he hasn't bothered
The extent to which gardens are cultivated down to priority, style preference and how environmental you feel, I have frogs, hedgehogs, stag beetles and loads of birds in my natural garden & I love it rather than the cultivated nonsense next door with the plastic buddha.
People have mentioned community and the way it used to be, valid point but in the 1960's the neighbours would have helped clear up if it was clear that the guy couldn't cope.
So if community is so important why doesn't the community help? I saw a news report a few months ago about a women who was fined, they interviewed a neightbour and he complained but hadn't helped. The reality is that people do not care in the same way as they used to and it goes both ways.

lincroft1710

About 30 years ago the then girlfriend and I were walking down a private road comprising mainly 1960s/70s detached houses. However towards the end of the road were a couple of mediocre late Victorian semis with high hedge in front. Tucked behind the hedge of one of the houses was a little BMC Minivan which had seen better days and clearly no longer roadworthy.

The door of the house opened and a woman in a pinafore came out, went to the back of the van, opened the doors and took out a shovelful of coal. The van was her coal bunker!

unforeseen

martindow wrote: »

What does she have to do? Patronising the poor of the parish maybe, or is it along the lines of droit de seigneur?

I'm still looking for a house, ownership of which would confer Droit du seigneur on me.

TheGardener

maisie_cat wrote: »

This is a really interesting thread, didn't we fight wars to prevent people being told how to live their lives?

You are missing the point a little - its not about anyone telling anyone else what to do - its about individuals acknowledging they might have some collective responsibility to act themselves, even if only in a small way like not dropping litter in the street or leaving their dog's do-do on the pavement outside your house. I think a Piet Odulf 'natural' garden would look amazing in any setting - but a car rusting into the ground in knee high grass is not a what I call 'naturalised' gardening. Manicured lawns and formal bedding plants are not to my taste either - give me a few daises any day - but I recognise the amount of time and trouble the householder with that garden has taken to make it look nice.

AnnieO1234

Can I just throw something at you those folks judging? Two years ago our garden went to sh*t. And to be honest, although the lawn is now cut, it's still not back right. Why? My husband became ill with cancer when I was 5 months pregnant.

For all we know, OPs mother's neighbour may just be going through something similar, where the only energy he has he uses on his kids, where he's worried that some day soon he might not be working for a while so he daren't spend the few pounds on a gardener.

Try and find out a bit more about what's going on in his life, strike up a conversation about the car ("Ooo I remember my teacher/dad/first love having one of those..." Even if it's a lie.)

If my neighbours had created about my garden two years ago, I wouldn't have been bothered about getting it straight when I eventually had the ability to do it. In fact I would probably have done all I could to make it worse, just to spite them if they'd been that judgemental and ignorant.