Castle Walls

 

We have new neighbours, I can hear them now. There are three dogs in the garden all barking. There is a golden retriever’s ladylike yap, a border collies’ tenor bark, and then there is the deep, dark, bass note reply from a St Bernard which is a … fearsomely loud woof!

Sadly, the neighbours have put up a very odd fence which now cuts them off the bottom half of their garden. They have attached their new fence (without asking permission) to the fences of their neighbours on either side. Our fences, however, were not quite in alignment, so their new fence, that will deny them access to half their garden, is in the shape of the pointed point of a trapezium. It’s such a shame as we wanted to get to know our new neighbours …well we wanted to get to know their dogs actually, and now we can’t.

When I now go into my garden now there is the disturbing threatening bark and growl of dogs as soon as they hear a sound or sense a movement. It is very unnerving. My garden is no longer a peaceful place to sit. No longer a peaceful haven.

The cats that sat around my pond swapping catty remarks have vanished; now  birds feel a little more confident about eating the bread crusts, and the fish are swimming closer to the surface in the pond.

I could sense that my neighbour’s blackberry bramble was already inching its way down their garden to claim a little bit more land. So barking dogs, and a rampant thorn bush; all they need now are castle walls and a moat, and then getting to know my new neighbours will be a cinch!