Just One of Those Weeks

'Sup? Peeps, why you gotta be like that?

Music: When We Stand Together by Nickelback

Hey, what's up? Not much here. Writing-wise, I mean.

It's been a slow start to the year, after the extra week of vacation for the little one, I got into a bit of writing, finishing off a chapter of revision and starting on the next 3, which are effectively a block. But then the medical and snow days, and looming tax deadline, have sidelined me again.

Yep, I'm back to physio, one last attempt to fix up my foot. The strat seems to be toning the legs to improve fine control, with the hope that that takes force off the ball foot. Well, we'll see if it works. We also had an impromptu and unnecessary snow day. It was made more frustrating by the fact that the schools didn't close when we had sheet ice covering the ground everywhere--I mean, to the point where you'd slide off the sidewalk if it tilted into the street a little--but a bit of snow and they close. Anyway, they were wise enough to only close for one day.

And then there's taxes. Made worse, of course, because of my procrastination. Each year I wonder why I don't do my taxes in May. Or October. But no, I wait until the last week of January every year. So atm, my taxes are still unfinished and I've got five days left.

But that's not enough, not for the first month of the new year.

So today, we had a couple knock on our door complaining that our back fence--that we had problems installing last summer after a complaint by a different neighbour--was encroaching on their property, that was their parents and they want to prep for sale. Essentially, the woman was insisting that our fence was 3 feet too far into their property, despite the fact that our new fence is inside the boundaries of where the old fence was. And, of course, despite the fact that there is no way you can be that precise with a 1:1250 scale map that wasn't even made from an actual survey. Note that with a 1:1250, a millimeter error on drawing or measuring from the map, translates into a 1.25 meter error on the ground. That's almost 4 feet! And this lady was arguing with us over the space of less than 3 feet! Yet she is the second person, including the first neighbour, the somehow fails to understand this simply concept.

You see, our property was developed in 1932, before the UK gov started doing any kind of official property surveys. So the 'land deeds' are not actually land deeds, they're simply crude maps drawn up by the original developer. I know this because I've check with a surveyor, and I've check on www.landregistry.gov.uk. No land claim has been filed, meaning there is no official survey, and no official agreement, past or present, between neighbours regarding the boundaries. That means that the current structures define the property as legally as any survey. And when we moved in, the most obvious boundary-defining structure was a wire mesh fence surrounding the property.

The fence, however, was in such disrepair on the back corner that our daughter and her friends could sneak through into the neighbours yard. So we decided, finally, to repair it last summer. It seems that a wiremesh fence is not a problem, but everyone suddenly freaks when that turns into a wooden fence. Even if they're getting more land than they originally had.

I guess everyone has a bad neighbour, and perhaps we were lucky meeting two good neighbours to either side. Perhaps it's just karma that we've gotten two bad, paranoid, and imo not too bright, neighbours in the back. Even more so because both brought up lawyers almost immediately in the discussion. The first guy we argued with for 2 weeks and eventually gave in simply to get the fence built, as the builders were waiting. Now that the fence is up though, we'll be calling the second neighbour's bluff before we take the fence down. In fact, I understand from the surveyor we talked to, that such legal proceedings can cost upward of £10,000, so we offered to move the fence to where they want it, if they give us £5000.

Today ended with us showing them the property, explaining the situation that happened with the other neighbour and how our new fence related to the position of the old, even showing them, as remnants of the old fence are still there, and suggesting that, if they don't believe us, they should contact their own surveyor and check the land registry site. It was clear that the man believed us that we had intended no funny business and have acted legally and morally. The woman, who's parents lived their until recently, seemed particularly stubborn and didn't appear interested in listening to reason. Still, I'd be surprised if anything legal comes of this. It's just annoying.

PROs: As a writer, there are always pros to this kind of thing. The pro here is the ability to witness different people functioning in a fairly standard confrontational environment, to witness the full possibilities of emotions and then to be able to apply these to my characters for greater verisimilitude. Life experiences may not always be enjoyable, but they are always learning opportunities.

Insight and longevity.