We live in a privileged neighbourhood.  As soon as spring arrives, the sounds and the activities begin.  People having in-ground pools installed in their backyards, others having their driveways renewed, still others getting cobbled walks and patios put into place.  And the inevitable, expensive installation of new windows and new roofs.

Our neighbour, two houses down from ours, now lives alone in his large house.  When he moved in over twenty years ago he lived there with his younger-than-he wife and her two children.  The two children have long since moved on to lives of their own, and his wife decided she would no longer accept his serial infidelities.  Our neighbour is a charming, sweet-natured man and he often tells us how much he regrets his wife's decision.

Whether he equally regrets his own roving eye and ultra-sensitivity to the allure of young women is another story altogether.  He has tried on numerous occasions to replace his wife's absence in his life with other young, pretty, intelligent women and nothing has ever worked out.  He is attractive to women, himself in good physical shape, although he does have some health issues - and he wants to share his life with someone, but not with an "old, overweight" woman.

That said, he is a very particular personality; everything must be 'just so'.  Although he lives alone, his house interior and exterior bear no resemblance to those of other men who have parted with their long-time life-partners.  His is neat and tidy, everything has a place and remains there.  The roof of his house was replaced a decade ago after a destructive ice storm.  It was a 35-year-roof but it just didn't last.  He is now replacing it with a 50-year-roof that has a lifetime-warranty.

He's nudging 70 and will certainly not live to see that roof replaced when it lives out its warranty.  He laughs about that.  Last year he replaced all the windows of that house, though when he bought the house he had paid considerably additional costs to have the windows all plastic-encased, ruling out the necessity to paint wood frames on a continual basis.  There were problems, discovered much later, relating to the poor installation of the windows allowing rainwater to escape down into the separations of the windows to impact the drywall and the wooden uprights.

Whoever eventually buys that house from this proud home-owner will be getting a house well maintained and cared for - presumably at a premium price.