Meeting the neighbours

Whenever we get tired of the rooms and feel we need a change, we rearranged the house. Again. We do this often and yesterday we moved the table from the library to the sitting room, which is the new dining room. Somehow we had got it into the room, but it is a large table, and wouldn't go through the door. We took off the kitchen door to manoeuvre it round the corner and try and bring it through on an angle, but it wedged solidly. Eventually, we had to take the other door off too until finally we managed to get it through the gap.

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We celebrated with a glass of Cherry Brandy. Like the bird-table (see Forward Planning), this came from my parents house when we cleared it after their death. It was a favourite tipple of my dad, and must be at least 30 years old now, but it tasted delicious. I have now bought a new one, and the label has changed so completely I thought I might have bought the wrong brand! Let's hope it tastes as good as its mature forebear.

Our neighbour has cut down a number of trees between the properties, and we are suddenly very exposed. The other day, we were at the patio when his head suddenly appeared disconcertingly over the fence and spoke to me! Suddenly we are not alone, so we are planning how to raise the fencing to screen them off. The fencing is very old, and without the trees' support it has started wobbling even in a light breeze, so may blow down when the next gale comes. It is unclear who has responsibility for it, so Ann pushed a note through their box asking for clarity, and offering to pay all or half if we need to.

I then went to work trimming the hedging where it is growing over the pavements, when the next door neighbour suddenly came round the corner to discuss it. They haven't been there very long, and we'd barely met them before. She said she doesn't like to leave things hanging, but always like to tackle problems head-on, which suits Ann for that is her style too. Then Ann came out to join me, and her husband followed shortly after so we ended up having a big pow-wow on the road, while keeping a legal distance apart. They kindly said they had every intention of replacing the fencing and paying for it, as they are in the process of renovating the whole house and garden which had fallen into disrepair.

She intends to run a nail and beauty parlour, while he has retired from the building trade and wants to open a dog-grooming service, so they intend to build working rooms alongside their house. So now we just need to find a fast growing tree to plant to screen them off a bit.