Jonola14

HOSE A NAUGHTY NEIGHBOUR

With temperatures well into the thirties, human flesh up and down the country is being sizzled by the intensity of the hot summer sun. Sun cream adverts are appearing on the television, people walking the high streets are clothed in as little as possible and water companies throughout the UK have imposed a ban on the use of hosepipes. Strangely, you can water your garden with a watering can, but definitely not a hose and certainly not a sprinkler. People are saving dish water, bath water and rain water amongst others, and all sorts of resourceful people are keeping the use of their water to a minimum - not leaving the tap on whilst brushing teeth, not waiting for the tap water to go ice cold before filling a glass, the list goes on.

And the majority of people abide by the law and are happy to “do their bit” for the environment, for the country and for each other by not wasting water at such a hot time of year when water supplies are at their annual low. Except my neighbour. Twice now, in the past two days, I have seen her giving the lawn a spray with the hose. Admittedly, she is not spending hours and hours grooming her lawn, but nonetheless she is using a hosepipe during a hosepipe ban.

Maybe I’m jealous because I don’t have a garden and the nearest I get to mowing the lawn is scraping the mould off the cheese, or maybe I’m resentful because I can’t use the green garden chair I was given for my birthday, but the behaviour of this woman next door riles me and I’m torn between dobbing her in and letting it be. If I don’t say anything, she’ll probably carry on hosing down the garden, no-one will notice and she’ll think that it’s ok to do so. If I do report her, I risk falling out with the neighbours (not that I know them) and that could cause all sorts of problems.

I don’t think I would mind so much if she was watering a nice garden, but effectively it’s just a bunch of overgrown weeds and a horrid, mossy, brown lawn. But she’s watering it during a hosepipe ban and that is wrong. Simon S says he would report her because no-one is above the law. Maybe I should do that, or maybe I should just let sleeping dogs lie. Both options are tempting - thoughts?