Tuesday 8 May 2012

A little spot of gardening

Last week I had a blazing row with my neighbour. The next day I had a highly animated argument with her husband where he threw pot plants around and attempted to pull saplings from the ground in utter exasperation at my audacious interference in matters that I should not have been concerned with. Everyone in the block told me to keep schtum and stop making an issue about it. So what was it all about. 



Last year, my neighbour, who had until then only sonically transgressed her rightful boundaries (I swear the woman is permanently turned up to 11) planted a small tree. This tree she planted in the common parking area of the block, not in my space but in a space allocated to a flat that has yet to sell (fat chance in this climate). To do this she had to knock through the concrete base to reach soil. Everyone in the block noticed and commented, everyone was displeased, nobody said anything. I reconciled my misgivings with my fondness for trees. Last week, two large pots had materialised to keep the sapling company, moving deeper into the unallocated parking space. “Your garden seems to be growing,” I quipped. She copped a deaf ‘un and I had to repeat. She huffed and asked what I meant, so I explained. Soon she was spitting each and every one of my transgressions in my face. I tried to contribute to the exchange but as a shark's eyes close when they open their jaws her auditory canal had been constricted by hers. Finally after a tinnitus-like experience she concluded with, “Nobody else complained, what do you care?”


The Greek elections of 6th May illustrated the atmosphere of frustration with political representation of the Hellenic people, nearly 35% of voters abstained. But while the big two had their proportions slashed, something slipped under the door, I say slipped but it actually  bowled into the assembly ordering all present to stand. The nationalist party, The ‘Golden Dawn’ (χρυσή αυγή) broke ground in the assembly. 



The exasperated have been browbeaten to stand by in impotence as the desperate hand power to the despots. Of course, I’m making a fuss, they only got 7% of the vote and 21 of the 300 seats but the outgoing party only got a little over 13% and the ‘winner’ less than 19%.  



While most have their eye on getting the German bankers off our backs, we have to be careful that we don’t wake up one morning to weed someone else's garden.  









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The Century of DIY