Riverside collapse

I had done the practical with the students, and when I got back to my desk I found a message from a colleague. Did I have a few minutes to talk with her? Of course I did. I called her on Teams.

The colleague in question is also the neighbour. Not technically; she lives in a different street, but our outside spaces are adjacent, and we can have a beautiful cliché chat over the fence between my garden and her terrace. And we regularly do!

It turned out that what she wanted to talk about was not related to work; it was related to us being neighbours. She explained to me that in the good old days, next to my garden, a big wall would rise up from the river bed, and on top of that wall was her decking. But that wall had collapsed. You can't see that from my garden! But she explained to me that this might affect me too; the people she had contacted to come up with a plan to do something about the situation had suggested that maybe the wall between my garden and her terrace would have to be taken down. And she also wondered if perhaps any material could be brought in through my garden. It can't come through her house. I am totally fine with that. Whatever works! It's not as if there is any proper access to the riverbank. I find the easiest way to get on it is indeed through my garden. So we'll see.

I really hope this situation can be fixed soon. And I hope it can be done in the way that is sustainable, beautiful, quick, not damaging to my garden, and not financially burdensome to the neighbour. I know that is much to ask but one can hope! I suppose living by the river comes with its risks. At least it looked like the house itself was not at any risk whatsoever. But that decking cannot be used now for a while! Stay tuned; I'm wondering how this will work out in the end…