@kingpins - my own lawn and front looks depressing atm - have been ill, have lost my two gardeners (retired) - it is a major job, have a few male friends, but all elderly and i wouldn't dream to ask for help. One daughter is willing, but lives far away and busy with her own life, the other has - again - some gripe with me, which i have given up to understand, as IMO I have been as good a mother to her as to the rest, to the point of just thinking of their welfare,always having a home read for them, food etc - money if possible, even when i was a widow.
Re my garden; I have to add up my pennies and see what I can do with commercial help, when i get better.
Council should chip in and do front lawns or pave them.
Generally though Australia has gotten a lot tidier than when I first came here, that was in the sixties. You rarely see people empty their garbage from the car onto the road etc. as was a common sight then. Outskirts of towns, cities, look tidier.
As I told my story with our first tenant, I/we found the human action necessary to extract what was legally agreed as our 'due' painful in the extreme. Having been 'good' tenants ourselves when first we arrived in Australia, it was incomprehensible to us - anyway: first and last attempt at that game.
Good luck to any of you who persevere!
Taurisk
