LOCAL RULES

There was a lot of discussion about local rules at this year's neighbourhood street party. Things have now moved from discussion to the next stage.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a letter from the kommune, saying that we would after all be being coupled to the town sewage system. When we bought this house in 2002, we were told by the kommune that we were so far out in the country that we would never be part of the public system. Instead, we had to invest in a new septic tank, together with associated drains, pumps and filter systems. All of this cost a lot of money; so to be told that the investment was now redundant and that we would have to fork out a lot more money for a new connection was galling, to say the least. After fairly loud telephone protests from me, the kommune went away to have a rethink. Eventually they said that because our system was less than 10 years old, we could escape. Some of our neighbours think that this is but a temporary reprieve; we shall see.

The other issue is the 31 December deadline for implementation of the rural letter box law. Yesterday I went out and bought a new letter box; and today I set the stand in concrete by the side of the road outside the house. Tomorrow I shall finish it off, and attach the box itself. Then I shall sit down and wait for the postman to tell me on Monday that I have put it in the wrong place.

Walter Blotscher