I just got a knock on the door at 10:30 PM. It was the woman next door. She said that a guy over the road said that I was shooting pictures of her window. Having not been out there at all this evening I could not think at that moment what they could be on about, and as I never take pictures of her windows, I certainly had nothing to relate it to or explain it clearly, so I did say that I do shoot scenery which he may have seen me doing. We live on a hill, and the views are pretty good over the Faithful City.
After thinking on it a bit more, I thought of what the guy over the road could be on about. I have lived here for eight years, and have taken thousands of pictures of the scenes around here, being careful of my neighbour’s privacy because I know already how uptight they are. What’s more, the window I would have to be shooting pictures of are covered by shoe polish and plastic bags all the time as a sign of how paranoid this neighbour is. (Why they can’t just buy drapes, I am not to know.) And the guy over the road, WHO is he? I don’t mean that like, “who is he and I am after him,” but literally WHO? I have never met a “Wayne!” But that is no surprise here because I do not live in the kind of neighbourhood where you are going to be getting a housewarming party from the neighbours and a Fourth of July BBQ.
So, without further adieu, here is a copy of the picture I think is in question…
I am often doing negative image shots of this pole as practice. The light and the moon of course made this day a wonderful time to shoot. The line at the top of the frame connects to the the neighbour’s house at left. This was shot 4 November 2009 @ 7:50 AM. That is apparently the same time that my neighbour over the road is peeking outside looking for paparazzi. Clearly, none of my neighbour’s house is in the image, or you would be able to see what was holing up the phone line to the top left of frame. As for the house that is in the photo, I do not consider that to be a highly invasive photo.
Do I expect another knock on the door? This time from the police? Actually, yes, somehow I do. People in the UK are just that petty, narrow, and prejudicial.
The real killer? The knock came from the woman whose sons are selling pot out of the house, and causing a constant flow of traffic out in front of our place. There are the smells, and of course the occasional beer canning incident where they lads get drunk and throw their cans into our garden. It is all really conducive to our raising children next door. Can we move out now? England is pissing us both off.
People, not everybody who has a camera in hand is a seething pervert, and for fuck’s sake, say ‘hello’ to the people who live around you rather than just watching them out your windows and reporting them to everyone when you have no clue what they are doing!
England sucks!