In 1970 we moved into our house in a street of group housing. In those days (in any days?) everyone was expected to be the same. If you did not like noisy vehicles or parties, or having your privacy invaded in any way, you were uppity and peculiar and subject to harassment. As a result we built a six foot fence and within the fence we grew small trees which blocked the environment.
Decades have passed, some have moved, others have aged and there now exists a kind of truce, even neighbourliness. We decided to replace some trees with sunshine and having removed them discovered what we had been missing all these years: a view. Or to put it more correctly a view truncated by the roof-line of the house next door below. What an imposition and an aggravation!
If this were Israel - God forbid - and I was an Israeli Jew and my neighbour a Palestinian, I could probably go to the local authorities and get something done about my lack of a full view. I know that we could trump up some story about the illegality of my neighbour's dwelling, how it does not conform to this or that. How he did not do the right thing when he moved in to it.
Now I am a reasonable man and I would be willing to compromise even though I know my neighbour would not possess the qualities necessary to appreciate my humanity. I would not require that his house be completely bulldozed - after all we are civilised people - but just that his peaked roof be sliced off and replaced with a flat one. Then everyone has to be happy; he has a house and I have an uninterrupted 180 degree view.
There is just one small added benefit in that I could save on rubbish disposal costs, for his flat roof below me would be an ideal spot for me to deposit all my rubbish.
