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There are some community news stories that truly stand the test of time.
There's the They want to close my local school story, the My neighbour saved my child's life story, the My Mom turns 100 on Saturday story and, of course, the classic, I grew a 50-pound pumpkin in my backyard that looks just like the Mayor story.
Florence Dike, who has lived in Applewood Acres for 40 years and on this planet for 90 years, called The News Friday with another one of the classics.
It's the my neighbour's weeds are four feet higher than the fence, and nobody will do anything about it story.
"I'm 90 years old and I'm trying to keep ahead of those weeds, but I can't do it," Dike said Friday morning (May 23) when she called The News to complain.
Dike lives on Russett Rd. just east of Stanfield Rd. in Applewood Acres. She says there have been weed problems at her neighbour's property, which fronts onto the North Service Rd. for the past several years.
She called the City of Mississauga a week ago today, as she says she does almost every year, to complain about the weeds which include the highly-invasive garlic mustard. An inspector came out, looked at the problem and gave her neighbour an order to remove the weeds by May 31.
"That's over a week and there are going to be a million more seeds blown into my back yard by then," said Dike. "I complain every year and usually they (the City) come and do something about it, but this time I have to wait nearly a week."
Jamie Hinton, the City's manager of compliance and licensing and a veteran of 27 years with the municipality, says a notice of contravention of the noxious weed regulations was given to Dike's neighbour following the inspection. If the offending weeds are not removed by May 31, the City will remove them and charge the cost to the owner.
If the weeds were removed quickly in previous years, it was because the owner quickly complied when given notice of contravention, says Hinton.
But he says there is only one previous complaint against the property on record, from 2006. There's no record of who laid that complaint with the City, but it's a safe bet it was Dike.
Spring is the time of year when weed complaints peak, says Hinton.
At her age, says Dike, she doesn't have time to wait for action.
She can get out to her own backyard to do a little yard work but not much. She has a company come to cut her lawn. She won't have to personally deal with the weeds that grow from the seeds that blow over the fence but that doesn't mean Florence doesn't take the offence personally.
"Every time a car goes by or the wind blows, all those seeds are going to come into my back yard," she says. "What good is a bylaw that gives them another 10 days to fix the problem? Look at all the extra work I'm going to have to be responsible for."
Not only does Florence know what a classic community news story is, she also knows where it belongs. "This story should be on the front page of your newspaper," she snaps.
In the sixth-largest city in the country, where 700,000 people attempt to live together cheek-by-jowl, the old verities still remain.
A yard full of blowing weeds may not be front-page news but it still hits all of the Florences of the world, who built this fair city, in the place where they really live.