Letters to the Editor
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LW is a version of the interfering neighbour
The LW doesn't like the state of the place next door. Serious disrepair is serious disrepair. We know she doesn't like it because she keeps offering to do something about it. The neighbour knows that she is inflicting an increasingly ugly sight on her neighbours because she apologises. But insists on keeping on inflicting the sight on others. That's deliberately rude to her neighbourhood. There's another neighbour who, just like the LW, doesn't like the state of the place across the road - and being across the road she looks at it every day. So unlike the LW, she doesn't just offer, she actually does something about it at her own expense because she knows the owner isn't going to. Plus she maintains the oleanders at her own expense. Well, that's also rather rude, but very quirky. And this is a quirky neighbourhood, right? So explain again why the LW is bent out of shape about the effective rude neighbour and not the neglectful rude neighbour? I'd go with the quirky one....
PS Shame about yesterday's column, but it was outstandingly the only one where Cary hadn't shown some empathy and thus funny, but maybe not one to have on record. He's batted back some tough advice in other letters, but always with some form of acknowledgement. Maybe he was venting and HE didn't mean the response to be published?!!