Wow, Just don't even know what to say to that. *chuckles*

~Tina Marie

Sounds like the ol' boy needs a visit from a group of "concerned neighbors". I'm sure they could explain why it would greatly benefit him to act like a good neighbor.

On the other side, needing a permit to do gardening work sound pretty drastic. We don't know the wholes story, but maybe he has a reason to be upset and just doesn't know how to properly control his reaction. In any case, it appears his response is likely misdirected.

Unless I'm missing something...what an idiot.

"Ironically, it faces Muscat's house"

The fingernail is in the wrong spot too!

...and his response could be something like the attached oeuvre d'art....

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:419008}}

If you've ever lived in another country, you might have an eye opener about just how micromanaged your 'private' activities can become. I was staying with some relatives in England a few years ago and we got the rare snow. Not to waste it, one family member built a tiny snowman and was advised to dismantle it because it was politically incorrect and might offend somebody. In most communities one does have to ask permission to fell even a small tree. On and on ad infinitum.

I certainly don't condone this gentleman's reactions,especially turning a leaf blower on people, but I think I can empathise with his feelings just a little. I liked the mooning hedge much better. Nice topiary.

calliope-
I'd be in the electric chair by now if that was the case here. Wow.

"one family member built a tiny snowman and was advised to dismantle it because it was politically incorrect and might offend somebody"

Never heard of anything so ridiculous like that here! Certainly not with any official authority.

"In most communities one does have to ask permission to fell even a small tree"

That's true; the law recognises the wider importance of trees and that they are deserving of protection. Just because a person owns a piece of land, does not mean they can do anything they like on it; that applies to all legal systems everywhere, including the USA (e.g. a person can't kill federally protected birds, or grow federally prohibited drug plants, on their own land).

"I'd be in the electric chair by now if that was the case here"

That couldn't happen here, because like other civilised countries, we've abolished the death penalty ;-)

Resin

Maybe Calliope's relative's snowman had some type of anatomically offensive addition. LOL

LOL brandon..........no it wasn't anatomically correct and the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip comes immediately to mind.

Resin is right about the snowman. To dismantle it was a suggestion not an order. The point being it is rather fuzzy anymore in Europe how anything one does may be construed, so even the most innocent activities are run through a mental filter , lest they be misinterpreted after the fact. To me that is more insidious than statutes. It is very hard for an American to understand that even flying the Flag of Saint George (union jack) is considered politically incorrect in many situations. Just as it is equally hard for a Brit to understand how 'unregulated' life in America can be. If I desire I can completely raze hundreds of trees on my property just because they're mine, paint any flag I wish regardless of its connotations across my car and drive it around then build a giant purple igloo twenty feet high next to the public road since I live in an unzoned township and hop into my truck with two shotguns in the rack behind my head on the way to a festival where the food vendors are cooking the pig in the ground.

I'm sorry........I didn't mean to take the thread down political paths. Just musing that I got a chuckle out of it when I saw this happened in Australia. It's been an inside joke for years that we 'colonists' are by nature defiant and perhaps it is true. ;-)

It's been an inside joke for years that we 'colonists' are by nature defiant and perhaps it is true. ;-)

That we are Calliope, but if you ask any of your friends or neighbors about it...seriously, what reaction would you get?

I know for certain the one I would get, My friends, family and neighbors all would laugh and be proud of that 'defiant' nature. It's what makes us Americans I think. Now, that doesn't mean I think we ought to go plow down all the trees on our property and such like that. But I do appreciate the various ways we as Americans express ourselves. :D

Personally, I loved the topiary, I've seen that one before, still makes me chuckle when I see it.
~Tina Marie

I think the message on the back of our Kleenex boxes say it all:

"Directions for Use: It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling. Use only as a facial tissue."

"I think the message on the back of our Kleenex boxes say it all"

Does it really say that?!? Nothing like that on Kleenex boxes here, you're free to use them any way you like. Over here, you only get statements like that on dangerous things like pesticides.

Resin

LOL, yep it really does, at least on the Cold and Flu ones.

The one I like best is the label on a rat poison stating that the product has been shown to cause cancer in laboratory mice.

Heh, you know... those warnings are there cuz some dumb putz actually did whatever those things warn against. Sometimes it just kills me to see the warnings on certain objects.

*shaking her head chuckling* Just makes one wonder doesn't it? *sighs* Almost had me a new hood ornament on my Dodge duelie two days ago...

Sturgis Rally is happening. Oy! Bloody fools!
I will be Soo glad when they finish spendin' their money and GO home!! *mutters about the stupidity of certain fools on the roads now days*

~Tina Marie, Hating the rally now days. Seriously.

The one I liked was on a packet of rock salt:

"This salt was laid down 85 million years ago"

"Best before: End May 2011"

Resin

rofl