subject: Fence And Neighbours [print this page] There is a famous proverb 'good fences make good neighbours'. This was used by a guy called Robert Frost in a book called 'The Mending Wall,' and it is a phrase that can be brought out every time two neighbours have an argument over the fences that separate their property. But does this phrase REALLY have much of a place in modern society?
Perhaps there is. The humble fence isn't exactly a social talking point, is it? It's probably not something we think about particularly often or even notice as we leave our homes in the morning. But fences are often the only thing separating your property from your neighbour's. Given how territorial we humans can be, this makes them one of the leading causes of arguments between neighbours.
The boundary of where one property ends and another starts is usually the reason behind these arguments. This comes about usually because one person puts up a fence and decides to move it over a little bit, maybe only by inches, in a bid to make their own property bigger or even encroach deliberately on their neighbour! This leads to anger from the one who feels their territory is being invaded and that is where the trouble starts.
It is not just boundary encroachment that drags fences to the forefront of everyday conversation and causes arguments, but it is sometimes the way that they look as well! You may put up a fence that you think looks great, or maybe just was the cheapest, but the old guy next door doesn't like it and thinks its horrible. He is the one who has to look out of his window at this fence all day every day. This can lead to him getting annoyed and taking it up with you. A way of dealing with this problem is for you to agree on a fence that you both like and jointly pay for it. This is a good solution at first, but what happens if there is a storm and there is damage to the fence or the fence panels? Who then pays for the repairs to be made? Or even worse, what happens if one side gets damaged and the other doesn't? Does the person on the damaged side have the right to demand money for repairs because the fence was bought between them? Essentially sorting out the first argument could lead to another one down the line!
So while few of us ever get particularly excited by fence panels and while they're probably not a topic of conversation you'd ever bring up on a date (at least not if you wanted a second date), the territorial nature of us humans means they might play more of a part in keeping a bit of order than we expect.
