The Editor,

Re: "No monsters for Monds," Letters, Aug. 27.

Our family also lives in The Monds, in an "old wood home" that's two streets over from where I grew up, playing in the front yard and attending Dixon Elementary.

We moved from The Dunns, where we watched houses come down and two go up in the same lot. In one case, three went up on one lot! Every day I see the "out with the old and in with the new" -- pretty much on any given street.

Our lifestyles have changed and our "needs" for what our house has is different. Gone are the days of one bathroom for the whole house. Gone are the carports for one car.

In are the three-piece bathrooms for each bedroom, one for the main floor and one for foyer. In are the three car garages at the front of the house.

I get that times are changing and that we live in a disposable society. I know that it's often more preferred to "bomb it and re-build." What I don't get is; why buy a Honda if you're just going to take it apart and build a Cadillac? I'd be perfectly happy driving a Honda, partly because I can fix it and keep it running. Like a lot of streets here in The Monds, we have a new house being built right next door. Our summer started bright and early with the gentle roar of the excavator and the thunderous crash of the old split level hitting the bed of the dump truck.

Now, in it's place, we have a 3,500 square foot, six-bathroom monster going up, and we get to constantly remind the workers of the 8 p.m. quitting time as they push to get their daily toil completed.

Yes, we're selfishly inconvenienced with "progress," the potty-mouthed workers, the loud music and the additional vehicles speeding up and down our sleepy crescent. But it'll be over in six months and we can stand on our deck and greet our new neighbours as they stand on their deck -- about five feet higher than ours.

My cynicism merely supports Mr. Theeparajah's letter (Aug. 27) and I stand with him in disgust and disbelief as our neighbourhood evolves into a place where we don't know our neighbours, where we throw away the old wood house and put up garbage. A neighbourhood that's lost all of what a neighbourhood used to be.

Yes, we have evolved.

We don't use horses to pull our carriages anymore and No. 3 Road has been paved.

S.L. Seaborn

Richmond