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Prairie girl with a west coast future.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

The Importance of Foliage

So, I've been having a wee bit of a tiff with another resident of my townhouse complex, and it led me to think about marginal people who don't like trees.

Here's some backstory:

Our townhouse is at the very top of the complex and backs onto a fire lane, which is chained off at the top to prevent people from using it as a through-road. This lane is primarily used by pedestrians and bikers and happens to afford me a beautiful view of the trees.

For the last few months, some individual has been parking his commercial (read: GIANT) bucket truck on this fire lane...directly adjacent to my backyard.

This upsets me for a number of reasons, most of them having to due with the fact that this vehicle basically blocks the sun.

When this truck is parked there, I lose my view of the trees. I worked very hard to find that view, and I don't appreciate someone impeding that.

Vancouver is not as awash with greenspace as one might think. Yes, there are parks and protected areas, but there is also a massively growing population who like to cut down forests in order to build ridiculously sprawling houses.

The fact that we even have a view of trees behind our townhouse is precious to me.

And so I went about trying to defend my right to view trees with the veracity and single mindedness of a pitbull.

I became intimately familiar with my city's bylaws, I talked to city officials and I talked to strata council.

The answer I received from all parties was a variation on the "that truck can park wherever it likes" theme.

Those who know me, understand that I can get a bit...single-minded about things that bug me. I have no ability to compartmentalize. If something bothers me, I will focus and dwell on it until:

a) I am driven crazy
b) I find a solution
c) I find something new to fixate on

In this case, I actually ran into the owner of the truck one dreary, rainy morning and tried (nicely) to persuade him to park SOMEWHERE THAT WASN'T NEAR MY BACKYARD. I used the "I like trees" argument to close my case.

The truck owner looked at me like I was a nutbar and told me that he would "try". He also told me that he "didn't see the big deal with trees."

It was at this moment where I knew that truck owner and I would never be best friends. I cannot be cordial with someone who doesn't "get" why trees are a big deal.

TREES ARE A BIG DEAL, OK?!

The uneasy truce has played out and the truck is now parked slightly lower than it was before, thus blocking someone else's view of the trees.

I have my trees back. Even though I can still see the horrible truck, at least I kind of have to go out of my way to see it, so it's at least not directly in my face.

I do still secretly hope that "I hate trees" guy gets a job that forces him to re-locate to Alberta, where he'll be quite at home with his kind. And then can all drive big trucks and laugh at nature together.

3 comments:

  1. Maybe truck-guy should move to the Sahara :)

    Seriously, I can see your point and agree.I'm lucky to have a view of the woods from my backyard and no road there where trucks could be parked.

    (instead, we have tons of rubbish dumped in the woods and that makes me more than furious!)

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  2. God, I hate the trash dumping. I just don't understand people who blatantly disregard nature!

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