Back when we were living in Vendelsö, in our first little Swedish house in the woods, there was one annoying thing. The guy next door was a builder and liked to advertise the fact by installing huge spotlights around his property. This meant that each night was like daytime in the bedroom of our little house in the woods. It was incredibly annoying and made it difficult for Mirinda to sleep.
Now we are living in Trosa, you’d think it wouldn’t be a problem however, that is not so.
Our neighbours have a light fixed to a shed in the back garden which is on every night, all night. That was a problem at first but I put up a blanket over the bedroom window which worked. But, this relief was not to last forever.
Our neighbours have fixed a new, movement detector light on a tree on their driveway. It points directly at our bedroom window. Mirinda says it’s like someone suddenly shines a huge torchlight into her face every time it comes on.
At the risk of sounding completely Trumpian, we seem to require a wall between us and them.
Anyway, Mirinda has decided to go and talk to them about repositioning, at the very least. I don’t know why we suddenly seem to have attracted light polluters, but it reminds me of the Mad Neighbour Syndrome we went through over a few properties.
There was the mad woman in East Horsley, who almost constantly shouted at her mother. There was Les the plane spotter in Aldershot. And we mustn’t forget the Folly Hill family that were always arguing. We called the youngest member, who lived in a tiny box room, the Beast because of the way he spoke on his mother.
Mike and Shelley more or less convinced us to leave East Worldham when they complained about my laughter. And then, of course, there were the Crazies in Farnham.
I thought we’d done with that sort of thing by moving country but, rather, we have swapped mad for light.
It’s a real shame because we are finally somewhere where we can look at the stars properly (well, after Angledool, of course) and are plagued by light pollution. Which has suddenly become worse.
I wonder about the need to light up a property after dark. Rather than deter thieves I reckon it will attract them. There’s always going to be something valuable where the light is shining down. I’m sure, in a street full of dark houses, the one with lights is the one to strike.
Fortunately, the nighttime lights can’t interfere with the view during the day.
As you can see, it was another glorious day in Trosa today. During the day, at least.
