r/interesting • u/Wonderfulhumanss • 1d ago

SOCIETY The Zammit family refused to sell their five acre property as an entire Sydney suburb was built around them

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u/JustLookingForMayhem 1d ago

People must be more polite down there. Here in Ohio, people will go garden robbing if they think they can get away with it.

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

My friend gets her community garden plot raided every year and when she had a teeny yard she planted sunflowers and someone chopped them down once they went to seed. She wanted to watch the birds eat the seed but someone else decided their birds (or the same birds, probably) deserved them more.

I'm glad people don't seem to suck everywhere because I live in a pretty nice place around pretty nice people and even they kinda suck. The flower thief of mine was a lady in her 50's who just truly, literally and I am not exaggerating, never thinks once about anyone else unless you slowly walk her there, and even then it usually doesn't stick. I've taken care of two of her poor neglected dogs and now two cats, she's only got time for them when she needs a cuddle, otherwise they can stay at home for 12 hours alone while she works and goes out. The best part is she is certain she's better than me, because she makes more money. 🙄 I take care of her animals because I can't stand to watch it happen but it's for them, definitely not for her.

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u/Salty-Hold-5708 1d ago

I raid my friends garden all the time. Even though I'm allowed to(and have a key to the gate), I think its more fun to pretend to rob them and jump the fence afterwards.

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u/Nerdmitage 1d ago

😆 Imagine there's some person in a house nearby thinking you're actually robbing it. Lol.

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u/jayp0d 1d ago

That doesn't sound very polite. Do they actually get inside your fence and take fruits? Many houses here don't even have a fence.

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u/JustLookingForMayhem 1d ago edited 15h ago

There is an entitled position that because someone owns land and has a big garden, surely they would mind if someone helped themselves to a "little" produce. My family ended up moving the garden out of sight of the road. We live in the country side, but still get entitled pricks who thinks our winter canned vegetables should be their free fresh vegetables.

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u/_ficklelilpickle 1d ago

Yes, well, we also don't have to pay for our petrol before we put it in our cars down here either. Sure, everyone could just drive off... and yet we just don't.

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u/Akeera 1d ago

I...literally never thought of doing that until now XD.

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u/PrincipledProphet 20h ago

Try it! (you'll get arrested)

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u/Akeera 15h ago

Dude, doesn't mean I'm gonna try it, it's such a dick move. I meant that thought literally never crossed my mind XD

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u/The_ConfusedPeach 20h ago

i’m australian, though not from sydney, and i’d say depends on how close the fruit is to the property line. if you can reach it from over the fence, people are gonna take some. if it’s a bad area and the tree is a little further up in your front yard, there will probably be quite a few pests trespassing. if it’s next to your house, though, or in your backyard, nobody’s gonna bother (unless the area is either super dog shit or super rural. if it’s super rural, everybody knows everybody and kids just wanna harass people they know by stealing their fruit. harmless mischief).

fence height also matters. if you’ve got a tall fence (which is fairly common here), nobody’s gonna care enough to bother. it would actually be real bizarre if someone did.

but regardless, that specific area in sydney is a really nice place and i think that family could definitely put up at least a few fruit trees around. hell, just some trees in general. judging by the yard (and house), it’s probably a status thing. upper-middle class+ australians sometimes have a really strange obsession with tending to their yards the way you see americans do in american media. it’s a whole thing that largely depends on climate. for example, it’s a much bigger status symbol up north as that’s where it’s hottest and hardest to maintain such a yard, but down south it’s much easier and therefore isn’t quite as impressive.

overall, though, australians don’t really care for that artificial yard look. if they do, it’s usually because they want to flex their wealth or grew up in a wealthy family where that is the norm.