Changes

Fortunately there have not been too many instances of such an event coming to pass, but there have been some bizarre nuisance stories. In 1872 a huge monkey, which had been won as a prize, lived in a garden in Greenwich. Although he was kept on a chain, he learned to escape and took to pursuing the neighbour’s wife. She and her husband made a legal application to the police for the animal to be kept under control, but were informed that they would have to bring a civil action as existing legislation covered only dogs, not monkeys. In the early years of the twentieth century, the combination of thin walls and increasing ownership of pianos led to many complaints by those who lived next to musicians, or to those who fancied themselves as musicians at least. Never was this more true than in the case of a rather pious gentleman in Chelsea in 1910 who would persist in practising hymns every Sunday, all day, on one finger – and, we presume, with rather limited ability. More recently still we have become familiar with the problem of giant leylandii, which grow grows to an extraordinary height in little time and may provide adequate protection and privacy for the owner but also result in a sudden disappearance of light for the people next door.

The British obsession with neighbours has led not only to some astonishing true -life stories, but also immortalisation in song and on television. It is inevitable that we are reminded of the Small Faces’ ‘Lazy Sunday’, inspired by writer Steve Marriott’s inability to get on with his, and a few years later of the ever-popular sitcom ‘The Good Life’, in which Tom and Barbara Good’s decision to keep chickens and pigs in their garden horrify their well-heeled and more conventional but reluctantly supportive Margo and Jerry Ledbetter on the other side of the fence. The author herself even makes an appearance as a girl of four at the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977, in a photograph and an anecdote about a street party held to celebrate the occasion in Bramhall.

Nowadays, it seems that notions of neighbourliness are increasingly a thing of the past. After the Second World War, when many goods were rationed and money was scarce, people would willingly borrow and lend gardening tools and other items. With the affluence of the next generation, everybody could suddenly afford whatever they wanted within reason and there was no need to share – although that is not to say that the present recession might not see the pendulum swing back to the post-war age of austerity. However , it appears that we no longer know our neighbours as well as we did. Perhaps we no longer feel the need, as ‘we have lost the grinding poverty’ that nurtured such necessities. Tellingly, Cockayne refers to the ways of the 21st century in which we communicate, reminding us that ‘the Facebook wall has replaced the garden fence’. She could also have mentioned texting on the ubiquitous mobile phone. Yet it is inescapable that living conditions were such in the past, and generally far worse, that close camaraderie was an inevitable result and more or less a necessity.

If this book appeals then you might also enjoy [[A Field Guide To The British by Sarah Lyall]]. You might also enjoy [[An Annoyance of Neighbours: Life is Never Dull When You Have Neighbours! by Angela Lightburn]].