New neighbours

Sadly, during the last year we lost the vacant lot next next door to us. For 10 months we've had to put up with the noise and general intrusion of construction. The worst day was the first, when a massive machine tore down a lovely old apple tree in full bloom. The next worst was just a week ago when the new house got a coat of very dark blue paint which makes our rooms facing that way feel as if we forgot to raise the blinds. Fortunately, there's only one such window on the main floor, but it's a big one. In the basement we have three windows facing that way so it is now very dark down there.
The house is attractive enough, but shades our front garden much more and extends further into the backyard than ours does.
Here is how it used to be in 2010, with green space and the old fruit trees to the left of our house:

Those orange barriers intended to protect at least a couple of the old fruit trees didn't last long. The lot was scraped clean of all vegetation.

Here is how it looks today, making our house look quite small:

Sunlight makes the colour look paler than it actually is. In the shade along the side wall, it is the colour of a thundercloud. Michael's room, which faces it, used to look like this:

And now, on a similar sunny day, looks like this: