Whitehead's World: From one demolition job to another...
How do you deal with enormous highs and lows of being a professional sportsman? This weekend saw arguably the best victory of our season so far and yet I find myself devoid of any real excitement.
Is this down to not having any real involvement in the victory over the current champions (and no comments about the win and my absence being related please)? Maybe, but I can assure you the real reason for feeling low is the reality of tackling my current nightmare, Party Wall Surveys!
Those of you that have been lucky - or sensible - enough to avoid the rigmarole of planning law might not be aware that, once you have gone through the arduous process of applying for planning permission and having said permission granted, that unless you know exactly what you’re doing there seems to be what can only be politely described as unexpected “hindrances” along the way.
Unfortunately for me, the latest “hindrance” in our house renovation project has been the necessary employment of a party-wall surveyor who, conveniently, is part of the second highest paid per hour profession. Dentists come top, but that’s another story (involving a training incident and my tooth). For those that like statistics, my only source for this info is my bank account. Or what’s left of it.
I say all of this in jest, of course. And I digress. Having sat down on numerous occasions with our lovely neighbour I can now appreciate why such laws and regulations are in place.
Naively, I had been under the impression that once planning permission had been granted, we could send the builders in to start the work immediately. Much to poor Mrs S’s disgust as she arrived home to find half her garden wall knocked down and a rather plump but friendly bulldog going about her hourly business in the courtyard.
Despite the rather obvious fact we intend living next door to the long-suffering Mrs S for the next umpteen years, in this situation you do still, of course, have to provide your neighbours with the security that once the work is complete their property will not be left in a worse state prior to the work taking place.
Admittedly, this now seems glaringly obvious. It has also come as an unfortunate reminder of the fact that we now live in a world that, despite people having friendly natures, very few people take that at face value (hence, I’d like to think, the reason for my trip to the naughty step against Saracens a couple of weeks ago).
But who is to blame for this sad state of affairs? Some could point the finger at the confrontational television programmes presented by the likes of Dominic Littlewood (aka Jack Yeandle, my rather balder compadre at the Exeter Chiefs). Or some might simply put it down to the way our society is evolving.
So next time you pick up the phone to hire a skip, ask yourself if you are sure you have followed all the regulations to the letter, or you could quickly find yourself becoming Exeter’s most wanted neighbour - or not, as the case may be.
