When I consider taking out my cedar hedge to discourage burglars from kicking in my back door again, I normally drop the idea because removal would be expensive and messy, and the hedge accommodates many shy woodland creatures. Of course, it also screens the woodshed and the spot where I dump garden rubbish, so I will henceforth also think of the neighbours' viewing pleasure.

Mind you, they aren't shy about littering their property with recreational rolling stock, or filling their porches and flowerbeds with kitsch. There's a gnome-fancier a few doors down, and the people on the corner have augmented the local squadrons of raccoons and rabbits with slightly-larger-than-life-size resin figures that I find frankly disturbing.