People contact the media with all sorts of complaints, begging for us to write about their tragic stories.
And then there is Ted, a long-time Burnaby residents who lives on a hilly part of the city and has had an amazing view until his new next-door neighbour “ruined” it by making a few changes.
Boo-hoo, Ted.
I’m sorry, but this doesn’t move the needle on my emotions in the direction you thought it would.
Ted contacted me to spill his story, thinking I would champion his cause by “exposing” his neighbour.
OK, let’s back up a moment.
Ted loves his view from the backyard, but the way it’s situated at a weird angle means that he has to look past his neighbour’s backyard. I don’t want to give too many details about the neighbourhood because I don’t want to expose a perfectly innocent neighbour.
Trouble started, at least in Ted’s mind, when a new neighbour moved in and erected two sets of clotheslines in the backyard. They added the poles and the line and started hanging a lot of clothes, as well as large bed sheets and rugs whenever it wasn’t raining, even during some cold days.
“This is blocking my view on the days when I just want to sit and enjoy my view,” Ted says. “I don’t know why anyone would wash that many rugs and bed sheets because they stretch all across the yard.”
Ted has a (conspiracy) theory and that the new neighbour is operating some kind of laundry business illegally. He’s thinking of filing a complaint with the city, which would, of course, be a colossal waste of time for city employees.
First, nobody owes you a view. What they do in their backyard is, for the most part, their right to do.
But Ted doesn’t see it that way.
“I was here first,” he said.
Second is what I think the root of what I think Ted is really upset about. During the conversation, Ted made some veiled references about the ethnicity of his new neighbours and “how large” their family is, as though the size of a family in a house is any of his business.
Ted also admits that he hasn’t actually ever spoken to his neighbours since they moved in.
Ted is clearly telling on himself here.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
