LINWOOD FENCE PAINTED "COASTAL FOG" TRIGGERS FORMAL MEDIATION AT COMMUNITY HALL
The neighbour wanted Mist Grey. She got blue.
A paling fence on a Linwood side street has gone to formal mediation at the community hall. One neighbour painted it. The other neighbour says that's not what they agreed on.
The complainant, Raewyn Soper, 61, said an agreement was reached at an October barbecue. The fence was painted while she was in Hanmer. It is now Coastal Fog. "It's blue," she said. "Mist Grey is grey. Coastal Fog is blue. He knows."
The fence-owner, Murray Bisset, 58, denies any agreement. He produced a Resene swatch card with a biro tick next to Coastal Fog. Asked who made the tick, Mr Bisset said "that's not the point" and shut the ranchslider.
This correspondent attended in an unofficial capacity. Proceedings ran ninety minutes over. A neighbour two doors down, Cheryl, said she'd stopped hanging washing on that side. "You can hear them through the fence," she said. "The blue one."
My mate at the station confirms the matter does not meet the threshold for a File Reference. A Disorder Warning was discussed and declined. Mediation resumes Thursday.
Mr Bisset has started on the gate. The colour is understood to be Half Coastal Fog.
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Reader Letters
Garry (Halswell)
Back in my day, no one faffed around with all these fancy colour names. A fence was just brown or grey, and no one had a fit over it.
Garry (Halswell)
@wayward_painter Exactly, simple colours made life easy. We all knew where we stood. Now a colour chart is like doing an art degree.
wayward_painter
Honestly, Coastal Fog sounds quite nice for a fence. Raewyn should be grateful it's not Pukeko Blue or some nonsense.
Margaret_F
Every other fence in Linwood is either that sludgy green or unpainted wood. Coastal Fog could bring a bit of class to the neighbourhood!
Glen_the_Conspiracy
Typical council distraction. THEY ALLOW the wrong paint to slyly pass, but my application for a shed on my own property? DENIED. Wake up!
Rae_from_Redcliffs
Murray should’ve thrown a splash of bold yellow in there just to see if Raewyn really notices. Blue my foot.
Sandra McKenzie
Technically, Coastal Fog has blue undertones, which might be causing the confusion. But Mist Grey? Not distinct enough. This is a classic hedging issue.
fence_expert_nz
I've installed hundreds of fences. The paint's irrelevant if the structure's crap. Bet Murray's fence won't last five years regardless of colour.