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# No, I won't mow my lawn
I am living in a semi-detached house. Due to several reasons, like problems with my mental health (and increasingly physical health, too), plain laziness, or being a friend of nature and insects, I started to mow my lawn much more infrequent a couple of years back. This year I decided to quit mowing the lawn altogether. And why shouldn't I, as for me it has only downsides: It is a chore each and every time; I don't like the noise and the smell of that damn combustor; It pollutes the environment and gets more expensive every time as the prices for gasoline are skyrocketing; It destroys most of the flowering plants in my garden (and the little ant hills, too); I don't actually need, nor want, a nicely trimmed lawn, because I don't have any use for it, nor do I find it aesthetically pleasing.
My lawn isn't huge by any means. We're talking about roughly 150 square meters. It only takes half an hour or so to finish up, no problem for a healthy person. I used to do it every 2 or 3 weeks each summer, a couple of years back, when I was still married and had just built and occupied my new home. And so did (and still do, of course) my direct neighbors.
My neighbors don't share my decision and how I think about it. They are pretty pissed off actually and called me to mow my lawn a couple of times now. At first I used to give in, excuse myself and then actually do it the next weekend. Not anymore, and not so the last time he called me: No, I won't mow my lawn. If my lawn offends you, that is totally your problem, and not mine. That's what I said to him.
And his problem it is, or so he says, at least. He is annoyed by all those pesky weeds that the wind blows over from my property to his one, and thus disfigures his lawn and provides him with excess work for weeding. Well... sorry. I don't do this on purpose just to bugger you. It's just nature, after all.
In Dubai you will get fined for a dirty car, as it is an offense for aesthetics and safety reasons.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1134086/offbeat
I sincerely hope that this is not the case with weeds here in Germany. If one of my trees should grow a huge branch that hangs over on my neighbor's property, he is legally allowed to remove that branch on his own, as long as I don't do it myself. He can do that with all the other plants and weeds, too, as far as I'm concerned.
And what exactly are weeds, and who decides on that? I for one like each and every plant that grows some colourful flowers, where insects can feed and spiders can prey. That is a lot more than a regularly mowed lawn has to offer. So why isn't the trimmed down grass called weeds? It doesn't have a chance to grow any flowers, and thus is actually of no use to all the insects out there. It is just plain monoculture in its purest. People don't care about insect die-off, do they? They certainly could do something about it.
Anyhow, I meant to rant about my neighbor because just yesterday he made a nasty comment again while I was out on the terrace. That'll probably just earn me some bad karma, so I skip the details. Suffice it to say that I'm not out on the terrace all too often anymore, mostly due to being annoyed by my neighbors. They are grouching and shouting for their kids all day long, smoking at least a pack a day (needless to say that I don't smoke, I guess), coughing the shit out of their lungs, and like to bitch about me as soon as they see me.
Just another reason for me to not mow the lawn, I guess.
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preamp's gemlog on 2022-07-03,
a slightly cloudy but warm sunday afternoon