Exactly one week after posting my latest rant about the unfinished house across the street a crew pulled in and started working on the exterior! I feel sorry for the men working out in the cold but finally, after sitting untouched for three years, the house going to be finished! I feel as if I’ve been given a gift. We’ll finally see something more attractive than that ugly monstrosity every time we look out our front windows. I’ve always loved the style of the house and I think the grey siding is giving it a very classic look.

I don’t think my rant had anything to do with the sudden change even though I did send a link to the new town administrator. Unlike her predecessor, she replied almost immediately telling me that the property owner had been given until December 20 to finish the exterior or the town would hire someone to do it and charge the work to him.

Rumours abound in small towns and one never knows for sure what to believe but we’ve been told that work on the house came to a standstill because the property owner was dealing with legal and financial issues that started when one of the subcontractors failed to complete his portion of the job correctly and then had a lien put on the house when he wasn’t paid in full. Apparently those issues have finally been resolved and work can now continue.

As a future neighbour, I tried to be patient and only complained to the town a couple of times. Like the rest of our neighbours, we would probably have been much more sympathetic if either the property owner or the town had communicated with us and given us some idea what was going on and when we might expect the situation to be resolved. I was startled recently when an acquaintance told us that that was none of our business! I’m trying to be generous and assume that that’s because he’s never lived in town and doesn’t understand why there are things like unsightly premises bylaws.

What do you think? What should a good neighbour reasonably expect to put up with?