The property next door to mine (actually round the corner on the adjacent road) has a large garden. On the side next to my house there are 4 conifers, each about 30' tall and about 10' from my kitchen and garage but on ground at least 6' higher than my garden as I live half way up a small hill. Every Autumn my garden is carpeted with small brown leaves from these trees and I spend hours sweeping them up, as I have done (again) today. The trees also keep the sun off my back garden in Summer, as they are South of me, and they worry me a bit in gales as if one or more came down they would fall on my house .
The old man who lived there has recently moved and his son has bought it and will move in some time next year. The problem is that I've developed back and hip problems in the last 12 months, that have been diagnosed as arthritis, and the sweeping of the leaves has become difficult. It's very annoying as I'm a keen gardener but I can't do any heavy work any more or the hip goes and the action of sweeping for 2 hours has already left its mark - my thigh muscles have tightened, ominously.
I got on well with the old chap and his late wife and I knew the son when he was a teenager - he's now about 36 - and I don't want to get off on the wrong foot with the lad when he moves in but I think it's time these trees went, if only to save me from being crippled. I've put up with the Autumn mess and the shade for nearly 30 years, I took it in my stride when I was younger and fitter, but it is becoming a problem. I now have to weigh up complaining about the trees and asking for their removal, risking bad feeling, or putting up with them for God alone knows how long and risking my mobility.
Has anyone had a similar problem and, if so, how did you go about solving it?