I wish we were more than a mile away from our Western neighbor - the one that tried to steal some of our land (thrice) - twice by moving fences, the last time he dammed the river trying to change the boundary lines. The one that dug a firebreak and the next week there *just happened* to be a fire on the other side of it. The one that basically drove his predeccessor to suicide. I also wish that out Northern neighbor were more than a quarter mile away, or that his house wasn't *right* on top of a hill. And that he didn't play "the Macarena" after midnight. I also wish that our southern neighbor didn't practice with his guns and terrify our dogs. At least the guy that owns the land to our East lives 15 miles away and only uses the land to raise cattle (except that the "stupid" beasts know how to cross cattle-guards, and the bull can leap the fence (quite a site, that!). )
Granted, these are much less than a day's walk away, but yes, they *can* be that obnoxious.
I think that there is a degree of "uncompressing" when you move to an "empty" regioin (let's not get into the whole question of the native inhabitants. That's a messy topic). When you've been living cheek by jowl with your neighbors, there's a stage where you want no-one around you, where you can say "I own eveything as far as I can see."
And before someone gets on the "Americans are greedy" kick, remember that the colonials were from all over Europe, and weren't really "Americans" yet...
RR
It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has
done what he has done.
- Richelieu
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