Dear LPG, 

I got up quite early this morning and did something I have been doing daily for the past 40 years.  I drew the curtains and took a look out of my bedroom window.  I am sure that many people do exactly the same thing and if you have lived in the same house for a decade or two you will know exactly what you expect to see.

The front garden is likely to have changed quite a bit even though you might not have done very much to yours. I suppose you are more likely to see it later in the day unless your bedroom is front-facing and for some reason, it looks quite different if you are looking at it from behind a ground floor living room window as opposed to the typical first floor perspective. 

 When I look through my window that faces that way I am aware of the people passing from left to right and in the other direction, and the moving backdrop of passing vehicles and pedestrians also interrupt the tranquillity of the view.   All the changes that have been made by the neighbours who live opposite also disturb the continuity more readily.  Many of their garden gates will have changed colour, not to mention the styles and number of cars that are parked along the road. 

 I remember when there were no yellow lines or residential parking spaces to be seen and there was a time when so many of the fences were a part of the landscape.  They are now missing so that the front gardens can be used as drive ways.  Have you noticed just how many houses have driveways that have a minor use as a garden path these days?  I have to admit to being one of those people who can only see the bits of my front garden that aren’t overshadowed by the back view of my car when I look out of my ground floor front room window. 

But the back of the house is a mini escape from so many of the ways that time has changed the views we see.  Things happen so much more slowly out there when compared to nearly every other outdoor sight we encounter.  I suppose that some of us will look out at the back and see an al fresco sight that we can have some control over although weeds can be a major eye-sore if you can’t keep them at bay.  My theory there is that you will only be aware of them if you find yourself unable to get out there this year, and it is likely that if you don’t usually get out there and deal with them, you won’t really notice them anyway.  

If you have your own garden what you see is largely the result of your own effort, and some will say that if you are looking down at the nearest thing to your back garden from the perspective of a person who lives in a flat or sheltered housing complex, at least you know that its upkeep is dealt with without the need for you to get out there with your personal spades, mowers and shovels.  I suppose that the view of your personal back yard reflects its owner in the same way that any change that we make to the things we own.  And I have to say that in my case they happen so gradually that I seriously don’t really notice.  I suppose that that is the real reason that starting each morning with a daily look at a view of your bit of terra firma, has to remind its custodian of continuity and constancy which is not a bad way to enter each new day. 

If (in your opinion) you look out and see a true mess, it might give you a reason to do something about it.  But no matter if you do the hard work yourself or pay for it to be done, I feel that, it is worth taking a look at your back garden each morning because, although it changes gradually it will keep you grounded, and if you have had a radical upgrade done, the satisfaction factor will do you a lot of good regardless of all the other complicated things that the rest of the day will bring.

GN, Penge