Ever had one of those moments when you're doing something very routine, and you get a sudden inkling something's not quite right?
I had one while being very domestic and hanging out the washing yesterday. Something just felt wrong, and when I looked round, back at the house, I saw what it was.
The people next door have had a new satellite dish fitted – their second, actually – in the past week or two, and while the mast is fixed to the wall of their property, the whole of the dish/LNB assembly is above the flat roof of our living room.
Now there's a good neighbour conundrum: what do you do?
Insist on having it removed or resited? Live with it, on the grounds that it's not actually attached to your own house so what harm's it doing? Or just get a bit indignant that it was put there without anyone asking if you'd mind?
I'm tending towards option three at the moment, on the basis of a quiet life, however much Mrs E is fulminating about writing to the agent handling the letting of the house next door, the owners, the local planning department and anyone else she can think of.
She's really got very Margot Leadbetter – "Jerry, do something!" – about the situation, while I just think the whole thing leaves a slightly nasty taste in the mouth.
But one question I have to ask: what kind of satellite installer is so stupid, or so blasé, as to think that such an installation is in any way acceptable?
