Friday, October 29, 2010

Stop to smell the roses

Hi all,

It's one of those rare occasions that I have the house to myself. On these occasions, I usually take a holiday from my disciplined program of exercise, knowledge gathering and writing activities. I usually watch a few videos, listen to some music, have a few drinks, think about life and writing, and watch the world go by.

I have looked through my DVD collection and watched The Heretic and Razorback among other films. After watching The Heretic, I am wondering if it should be included as a science fiction film, because its premise has Linda Blair's character and a priest being telepathically connected with a electronic instrument.

Razorback depicts a lot of redneck Aussies and I wonder if that is why it was so derided. It did go on about Kangaroos becoming hunted to extinction from overhunting. Which was always bullshit.

I have thought up a personal article to write for divine. An article about my fascination with fire, which ended when youthful misadventure resulted in me being on fire. Years later I worked for the forestry commission and fought a couple of bush fires.

I have been wondering about my neighbours. Particularly those who keep dogs. On my left are neighbours who have gone through four dogs in about four years. I complained to them about a very loud barking German Shepherd. It disappeared a few weeks later. They then got a Labrador, which didn't bark much, so much so that we don't know when it disappeared. They recently got another a Jack Russell that barks during the day, but not much at night. Then just recently we could hear whimpering from their garage, they had another dog.

I was shocked to see them walking both dogs a few days ago. I have never seen then do it before. Meanwhile, I heard whimpering from the left side house. A house vacant for a few months because both owners died. I stuck my head over the fence. A big brown shaggy coated dog that looked like the neighbour's of two houses down was there. I looked out the front of their house, a pest controller vehicle was there. So they must have temporary locked the dog in the dead neighbour's back yard so it would not get poisoned. The dog disappeared at the same time as the pest control vehicle.

Today, two days later, more whimpering. That dog is back in the dead neighbour's yard. I am assuming it is because the owners plan to hold a jazz festival party in their backyard. They once kept us up all night with one. But it has been raining all day, so good luck to them.
So will they remove it, or not care if its whimpering turns to barking and keeps me up. Why are so many dog owners such arseholes?

Graham.

4 comments:

Anthony J. Langford said...

Yeah true.. We had to leave our last house because of a next doors dog..I complained but it did no good.. They were nuts so we put up with it for 4 years but I had to leave..
Barking dogs are the worst.. I think i read somewhere about the high stress they cause regarding disputes etc...

by the way, I have a asshole poll on my blog if yr interested..

=]

ps you ever lived in the city graham? no reason, just a question.. as I'm from Shep originally...

Graham Clements said...

I went over and voted - I reckon only about 10 percent of people are arseholes. The rest are basically decent. Some people are arseholes and then change to decent people. But why do the arseholes have to live next door.

True to prediction, the dog, as well as the music, and my rising anger at arseholes, kept me awake until 3.00 am. I went and saw the owner the next day. He removed the dog.

As to your question about living in the city. I lived in Melbourne, when I went to Uni, and we made all the nose, we were the arseholes then. On a recent trip to Melbourne, I stayed at a hotel on Elizabeth street, and I did notice the tram bells etc.

I lived in Sydney, and surprisingly never seemed to be bothered by the noise. Except from one dog one night, put in the back yard of the hairdressers next door I went and saw the owner the next day, and he removed it. I think Sydney had a constant hum that blocked most noise out.

I lived in Brisbane, and I can't say the noise ever bothered me at night. Dog's might have been too sapped from the humidity to bark.

Anthony J. Langford said...

Okay, interesting. You had a great run with noise in city's then. Apart from my asshole neighbour, I used to live near this woman in Sydney, in fact, my little unit looked down on her backyard. She was infamous as she had featured on 60mins in the early 90's (this was the late 90's) as she had AIDS and was a working prostitute..She used to 'work' out of her house.. she also was a alcoholic and a drug user so she would crank up the music until it was distorted and scream at everyone. The cops were often there. Now I live next door to another loony.. a bit sad, but if he doesnt take his meds, he starts abusing the neighbours.. i think ive had a bad run. and i havent lived in bad areas.. aside from the late 90's..close to Redfern..which is much nicer now.

I think you make a good point. We can all be assholes at times. I also used to be uncaring about noise when I was young. I think here its about 25-75.

20 years of cities though, im ready to go back to the country. About 50 of Sydney drivers are assholes..

=]

Graham Clements said...

I have been thinking, and really, there was only two occasions I can remember noise was an issue. A barking dog and a party. Both in a flat in Sydney. I went and talked to the perpertrators the next day and the problem was fixed.

I doubt if you could have gone and talked to the screaming prostitute, she probably would have charged you for her time. At least my neighbours appear to be mentaly stable.