In the past few weeks there have been letters from neighbours who are not living comfortably alongside each other with the usual nitpicks of dogs, parties and noisy vehicles. There are worse scenarios.
Suppose your neighbour is a stonecutter and a wood chipper. There he stands with ear protectors clamped to his head. Around him are piles of stones, sand and a selection of power tools and machines.
First you can look at laying flagstones. The earth must be levelled first so that calls for an earth tamper. This machine is very loud and sounds like a helicopter. The flagstones must then be shaped to fit nicely. The various drills range in noise levels from screeching and grinding all the way down to a dentist-like drone that sets your teeth on edge for hours on end.
These tools also work for the rising of a Great Stone Wall. The stones must all be shaped, as above, put in place with incessant tapping, then stuck together. This brings on the cement mixer. On a beautiful summer day you find some free time to sit outside with a cold drink and a book. But no, it is also the perfect time for the mixing of cement, which rumbles and scrapes for the rest of the day. By this time your poor addled brain is envisioning miles of flagstones, a towering Great Stone Wall and a mountain of wood chips.
The wood chipper roars for hours when the stone-work is done. The best time is on a quiet holiday like Thanksgiving, when the machine runs for six hours, seeming to come from right under your dining room window. Your dinner guests finally flee, urging you to make a formal complaint. But are you angry? No. Even if you are totally deaf by now, you can see the wood chips going into the making of a pretty garden with flagstone paths and patios. And you know your sweat and tears have helped make it.
And hey, we all know what to do when we’re served lemons. You question that our mythical neighbour could be so thoughtless from April to October for years and how the city bylaws for noise pollution could be ignored for all that time. Points taken. You feel your rights have been buzzed out year after year, but listen — that Great Stone Wall will soon be finished and when the tours are set up you have earned the right to open a lemonade stand.
Patricia Hamilton, St. Albert
