Wow. You really are a bunch of uptight bitches and dickwads. Yes, I admit — I was a bit noisy the other night. However, it was the first time I ever kept it going until that time. Did it really offend that much? Did you truly need to go about, form a quorum, and bring the shit to my door en masse? Pathetic. And, while I realize that you are upset that you didn’t go out and get a chiminea before I did, that fact remains…and so does the one that permits me to use it. Even after you called the fire department and the lieutenant directly stated that I was well within the law, you bitched and moaned. It’s this simple — get a life. Yup, sometimes people have small gatherings and there is a bit of noise. GET OVER IT. Fires in proper receptacles are permitted and wonderful. Don’t like that? Tough!
I find it funny that the same people that bark about too much bureaucratic interference are the same ones who loooooooooooove rules and controlling people’s lives.
Anyway, that’s all I have to say. Oh, and the next time I decide to have a few people over, and we stay out until midnight (oh, the humanity!) with a small fire burning…well, don’t come knocking on my door the next day unless you want it slammed in your face. Thanks.
This article appears in Aug 7-13, 2008.
have YOU ever been downwind from a neighbour’s chiminea, especially late at night, trying to get some sleep, except you can’t breathe because your inconsiderate neighbour is polluting the neighbourhood with noxious smoke and carcinogens?i didn’t think so…
chimineas don’t belong in densely populated areas of the city, because the smoke disperses in such a way that as it rises, it also drifts (almost directly) into neighbours’ windows.they’re ok in the country and less populated urban neighbourhoods, where houses are farther apart, but in the hydrostone area, houses are too close together, and your neighbours are going to be effected by the downstream smoke.so i’d say that YOU are the one that’s out of line here, mr chimineabtw, i’m not one of your neighbours, in case you’re wondering
get some canned gel fuel from the fireplace stores. stuff burns clean with a yellow flame and no odor. The stuff was designed for ventless indoor fireplaces. You can also get some ceramic logs if you want the wood fire look.
Wow, next people are going to be banning clotheslines because they affect the neighbours view. WTF?! There is an endless supply of cr@p that could anoy a neighbour. That’s why most of us good neighbours kindly put up with this stuff happening from time to time, as we’d hope our neighbours do the same when we want to partake in something our neighbours may not like.
yeah CC, but we’re NOT talking about ‘clotheslines’, so stop obfuscating the issue. the topic is CHIMINEAS, which is something else entirely… try to pay attention ok.
Sorry you can’t think in the broader sense: ie: crappy neighbours unable to cope with things they don’t like/tolerate. Whether it be chimineas, clotheslines, smelly food, wood stoves, a late night party, loud kids etc, there will always be something to annoy someone somewhere. Best you can do is be a nice neighbour and hope your neighbours do the same.
“Best you can do is be a nice neighbour and hope your neighbours do the same.”exactly, and polluting the neighbourhood with burnt hydrocarbons, especially at night when people are trying to sleep, is NOT being a ‘nice neighbour’.there’s a time and place for everything; you can’t just DO whatever the hell YOU want, and screw everyone around you, particularly IF your activities are causing the neighbours grief and interfering with their RIGHT to peace & quiet and clean/breathable airi’m glad you’re not MY neighbour!
Clotheslines are already banned in many HRM subdivisions, especially those full of snobs. Nothing like building a $500,000 home and being told no clotheslines. A chiminea can burn smoke free by using short, very hot fires with dry wood. I made the suggestion of gel fuel a few replies back but someone else I spoke with mentioned artificial fireplace logs which will burn extremely hot and mostly smoke free if you cut them down and expose the core.
WTF are we STILL talking about clotheslines??? jesus h christ, chimineas and clotheslines are entirely different things… and don’t give me this bullshit about thinking in the ‘broader sense’ either. a couple of you are seriously derailing the issue.
How about smelly food? Clearly you’ve never lived downwind from someone cooking smelly fish!! It’s enough to make you gag -even worse for someone allergic to it.The point is it’s not my place to tell another property owner on their private property that their actions are making me sick. I close the windows, or used to return home late on friday nights because it was a weekly smelly event.Granted, I’m sure my neighbours have been kept up a night or two by my having a garden party, so it’s kind of a trade off. C’est la Vie!
the smoke (and carcinogens) from a chiminea does not confine itself to YOUR property, it travels downwind into your neigbours’ space also, thus causing a problem; whereas a clothesline has little/no impact on your neighbours whatsoever (unless you happen to hang your clothes out when an arsehole neighbour lights up his chiminea, stinking up your freshly laundered clothes)basically, imo, urban chiminea fetishists are self centred arseholes who *think* they’re oh-so-hip for being the first on their block to have the latest backyard/deck accessory. pfft, whatever!
Sorry you have a problem with Chimineas. City Council doesn’t, nor the fire dept, nor does the consumer who buys keep buying them. Since pretty much every garden party now has them, the garden party attendees seem okay with them too.Do you want them banned? How about wood stoves or fireplaces? How about people that chain smoke in the backyard? Cook smelly food? Use heavily scented products in the dryer that wafts out the side of the house? As important YOU think the chiminea issue is, I guarantee you there’s someone somewhere that could make a case for something that annoys them. (Indeed, I remember reading about a neighbour trying to sue his chainsmoking neighbour for smoke wafting over) This foolishness has got to stop somewhere.
what if your neighbour decided to install high intensity lighting on his property, but instead of using proper shrouds to prevent the light from spreading everywhere, he aims the lights in the direction of your property, flooding your bedroom with artificial light… would that be OK? after all, the lights are on HIS property, so fuck you, right?i think not, pollution is pollution, whether it be from chiminea smoke, artificial lighting, loud music, backyard boneheads gabbing all night long, and so on.have some RESPECTand no, i don’t advocate bans on anything… although i’d make COMMON SENSE mandatory
techcafe, the clothesline bans I mention were done purely for esthetic purposes, the neighbours wouldn’t want to see linens blowing in the wind. Yet these are the same people who wouldn’t want people to complain if enjoying a fire on a summer evening.I think its a matter of common courtesy, place the firepot away from windows and burn clean, hot fires. No need to have a smouldering fire anyway.
There are already laws on HRM’s books regarding outdoor lighting intruding on other properties. Try again…
and your point is, nsitc??
My point is that a complainant could persue the offender if they were doing something illegal. HRM would force them to adjust the lighting to within the guidelines under the bylaws. Folks from HRM and the FD have already determined the chiminea user was within his rights and using the appliance safely so they should really stop hassling him. I’ve given him suggestions on how to make sure he gets a clean burn and that way his neighbours won’t have any reason to complain.
with burnt hydrocarbons, there’s no such thing as a ‘clean burn’, even if the noxious fumes have somehow been mitigated with a ‘pleasant’ aroma, the burning process still produces carcinogenic particles that interfere with breathing, especially at night when it’s wafting into your home/bedroom.and let’s face it, many chiminea-ists don’t use the type of fuel you’re talking about, at least not in halifax’s neighbourhoods.
techcafe, clean burn doesn’t mean making the smoke smell nice, it means not having a smokey, smouldering fire. Those types of fires are usually from someone overfilling the stove, starving it of air and using green wood. I think you’d be pleasantly surprised if around a fire that was fueled by dry hardwood cut into kindling sized pieces which makes for a faster, hotter and cleaner burning fire.Dry hardwood, artificial logs and the gel fuel are all readily available in Halifax.
i still don’t like the idea of inhaling harmful airborne particulate, even if it supposedly burns ‘cleaner’ than real wood. we’ll agree to disagree on this one.http://www.lung.ca/protect-protegez/pollution-pollution/outdoor-exterior/heating-chauffage_e.php
People need to relax. Don’t like inhaling “airborne particulate” Gee, guess where a good portion of that comes from– Tufts cove for your ELECTRICITY hypocrites.If the OP has a few friends over on a nice evening in the summer, once in a while, big deal, if they are partying all week every week, then yeah there’s a issue. People have different schedules, thats life. YOU might want to have a GTG one night yourself and god forbid your voices don’t carry, or you have a dog that barks, or you start moving your lawns too early in the am. Each of my neighbors have had a turn, being outside late on a work night or a weekend , EVEN 2 nights in a row. I’ve had my turn too. IT SUMMER, its vacation. Don’t want neighbors? move out of the city. I Just remember that these are the people who will pull my garbage can off the street when it blows out there, check my house when I’m on vacation or even just out for the evening, or hey I wake up and my driveway has been “mysteriously” snowblowered in the winter. give a little; get a littlefucking relax you whiners.
OP, I’d hate to have you as a neighbour. Like it or not, you have to live next door to these people, yet you act as if you don’t give a damn if you work things out with them. If they had to come to your door “en masse”, chances are there’s a reason for it. Stop acting like you’re being persecuted…I’m sure they didn’t all decide to gang up on you for no reason.
@ Elvisa chiminea is only about 1.5m high, whereas the stacks at tufts cove are 157 metres high (104x higher) and tufts is not polluting my back yard or wafting through my home. the airborne particulate from the chiminea does not get dispersed into the upper atmosphere like that from the smoke stacks at tufts cove.it’s absurd to make any comparison at all b/w tufts cove and a chiminea, unless you’re trying to obfuscate the issue, which you obviously are. so stick that in your fucking chiminea, and next time, check your facts before being a smart ass.
And Elvis….I’d also like to point out that #1: The “whiner” in this situation is the OP- he/she is the one that placed the original bitch…the others were debating the merit of the bitch; they aren’t the ones with the problem, in other words. And #2: THIS IS A BITCH BOARD! Ergo, there will be whining. If you don’t want to put up with people whining, you probably shouldn’t bother being here. The “policing the bitchers” job has already been filled, thanks.
for the record, i’m not in any way involved with the OP’s chiminea/noise dispute, but i have had inconsiderate/obnoxious neighbours like him in the past, so i can empathize with those he refers to as ‘uptight bitches and dickwads.’the OP might want to practice a little empathy himself
HAHA, Sure tech, since you’re such a self proclaimed VALID source of info yourself. The pollution from Tufts cover just magically disappears, along with those of cars, trucks, trains etc. Just because you can’t see or smell them, doesn’t mean they are gone. I am pretty sure that Tufts Cove AS AN EXAMPLE, churns out more unburned hydro carbons in an hour than one small chimea fire would all year.You can cram that with your own made up facts and the word obfuscate that you love so much; sideways. I’m sure it’ll fit.And Tasha; I’ll bitch about whatever I like thanks. The whiners are on both sides. I’m sure the job for Policing the “bitcher police” has been filled too.
Techcafe – you’ve neighbours have ticked you off in the past – are you so perfect a neighbour you’ve never done anything to tick them off? or never will? I’d sooner admit we’re all going to do something that won’t please everyone all the time, and keep that happy understanding with my neighbour. (afterall I’d sooner live a happy, friendly coexistance than a grumpy complaining one)For instance: If you complain to your neighbour for say, letting his car idle for a half an hour beside your house, chances are that your neighbours not going to be so keen to pick up your trash can, & may even decide to complain when your garbage sets out for too long.
CC- Exactly my point. I have a chiminea. I don’t have huge fires, I burn only dry wood. I don’t use it when the wind blows too much or towards the houses; or if the immediate neighbors have clothes on the line. I get along fine with the people in my area. They tolerate it, just as I put up with their parties that SOMETIMES go on past a reasonable hour, or the few overly loud sport bikes in the area that come and go at all hours. Its give and take.
Thanks Elvis – I reiterated the point because I’m shocked that so few people get this “live & let live”/”give alittle &get alittle” concept.I guess self-importance has taken over now: certain individuals believe they lead the best life and anything that offends them is wrong and should be corrected. Of course these self-important people on a mission to correct others, forget that everone is human, has quirks, etc; and that everyone (even themselves) will one day do something that offends someone!I guess it comes down to what kind of society you want to live in. I prefer the kind that ignores the fact your compost is really stinky on a hot day or ignores the neighbours backyard prayer meeting, in the hopes that they too will allow me such grace to do things that might not always please them.
oh stop pontificating, CC… ya fucking twat
ahhh the hydrostone. Such a cute neighborhood… so pretty, so pleasant. Its really too bad that a lot of the residents are completely and fully snobs! The way these ppl try to police the neighborhood is ridiculous. If you are part of the ‘quiet’ (at night that is, these ppls children run around like maniacs on the medians all morning/ day/ evening) cataloge-shopping home-owners then they are all smiles and gardening tips. If you happen to live in a shittier building or otherwise vary from the mold you are ignored or otherwise isolated from their ‘community.’ While i appreciate the idea that these residents are trying to keep the neighborhood nice with a bad one or two not too too far away, the idea of showing passive aggressive disapproval of those who may potentially be different from you seems more like pettiness, trying to enforce some kind of caste system, and unrealistically suburban for city life. I prefer the approach of the other nice north end neighborhoods (and of course, some hydrostone-ians): actually being friendly. It usually works just as well without breeding the resentment. But hey, maybe they are too insecure and/or self-centered to accept others who are different as full out people. It ends up making a nice neighborhood look pretty damn ugly.