Here’s a not so funny story. A man in Florida, US, is being sued by his neighbours for what they regard as bringing down the tone of the neighbourhood. They think that the outrageous colours that have recently been applied to his house are not in keeping with the overall colour theme of the street. The area is apparently upmarket so, if you owned a house on that street, you’d probably understand how other home owners in and around the man’s house might be feeling.

The house has been turned from the usual sober beige to red, blue, green, purple, yellow and all the colours in between. Now I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase ‘a splash of paint’? Well, in this case, the phrase is certainly not metaphorical; it is literal in the sense that the house literally has not one, not two, and not even three splashes of paint. Think of a colour and you will find a splash of it somewhere on the exterior of the house.

Tins of paint had been literally thrown everywhere and I mean everywhere. The walls, the doors, the windows and the roof. In fact, no area in and around the house was spared. The splashes of paint covered the surrounding grounds, the trees, the bushes, his parked van and the lawn. But it didn’t stop there, and this is the reason his neighbours are so irate. The paint had been so haphazardly thrown at the house that blotches, and even splashes, landed on neighbouring property, including someone else’s car that had been parked in the front.

There’s another phrase with which I am sure you are familiar. It is, ‘there’s a method to the madness’ implying that, although on the face of it, the method, as well as the apparent result, may appear out of sorts, it does serve a final purpose.

We now learn that the man was under the influence of drugs at the time he decided to do some redecorating. However, further facts reveal that the man was not really redecorating. He was so angry about stuff going on in his life that he first decided to numb his ire with drugs and then decided to take it out on the house. Those splashes of paint were done as a result of a fit of anger. So was there a method to the madness? Yes and no. No. he wasn’t trying to redecorate the façade with a special look in mind. He was just mad as hell. The neighbours are suing the chap but it is unclear how successful their lawsuit will be since the man does not live at the property full-time and that seems to have bearing on the weight of their case.

You can, therefore, understand how upset and annoyed the neighbours must be. If you own a house in a neighbourhood, the last thing you want is the tone of the neighbourhood taking a nosedive because that will affect the value of your property. Even if your property isn’t physically affected by something a neighbour does, it does ultimately have monetary ramifications.

But neighbours all over the west get irate with each other over so many other things too. The festive season, and other holidays, are particular trigger points with neighbours. In America, to celebrate the festive season, some home owners will decorate their exterior with all manner of life size Christmas decorations such as flashing tree lights, a lifesize Father Christmas going down the chimney or lifesize reindeer and sleighs on the roof. But neighbours know that these are temporary so don’t often say anything, that is until they become intrusive. For example, if reindeer bells ring all night, or if the Christmas lights are flashing all night or if there’s an incessant ‘ho ho ho’ coming from Father Christmas. That’s when it can get touchy and can often result in altercations.

In England neighbours would get into a tussle if a neighbour’s cat kept pooing on their lawn or if there is an overhanging branch that cuts out the sun. But if the overhanging branch bears fruit then there’s no altercation because the fruit belongs to the person over whose house the branch is hanging!

In fact, I must admit that, in extreme cases, even if a neighbour hasn’t ‘splashed’ on colour on his exterior walls, neighbours can still be annoyed if the exterior of the wall does not match the rest of the street. So having your own house comes with responsibilities. Don’t forget, anything you do to it, may impact your neighbours too.