Village Life

I must admit that there are times when I feel like a Leonard Cohen record, that's a CD in old money, and no one ever listens to me. But events have shown that my voice is not a mournful cry in the dark.

Going back to my previous posting on some of the hassle I have had here I first want to point out here in Britain, it is perfectly possible and legal to feed birds. Normally too the local authority would not waste their time on such issues. What caused them to follow up on a complaint was they had been told that I was dumping food waste and this was attracting vermin. This combined with the comment that I don't always put a bin of rubbish out meant that the had a duty to investigate to protect the environment. Something that I praised the council for doing, as if it had been as the story they received, then polluting and despoiling the environment would need to be stopped. The council does have powers to do that, via the courts if needed.

The person who generated that complaint I know, and has tried to cause me problems in the past. Equally, the council know this, but as I said previously the Local Authority have a duty to investigate. However, the local authority have, I understand, issued the complainant with a notice to stop what the council consider to be close to harassment. As this is now the fourth time they have investigated and found nothing wrong.

Additionally the neighbour who was feeding the Jackdaws and two other neighbours paid the complaining neighbour a visit and have told them that they think they are bulling me. The silly part is that, the complaining neighbours assumed they were respected and worthy of respect, the delegation of neighbours made it clear that they are not, nor do the other neighbours think it right to give me hassle.

I genuinely think that this really will end my problems with the minority of idiots in the village.

When I first came to the village, there was a minority here that were taking and dealing drugs and were ruling the village with intimidation and violence. While this was already on the wane, I personally was not prepared to tolerate criminality or intimidation from anybody. I had already been through a tough time with my former Landlord whose family had been a major criminal gang in the area where I lived previously. A major part of my motivation for moving to this village had been to get away from that sort of criminality and the crazy mindset that tolerates it, yet bemoans it. A perfect example of what I mean, was one chap I knew had his car broken into and the radio stolen, yet the same day it happened he went to a pub where he knew he could buy a stolen car radio to replace the one he lost. I challenged his thinking as simply by being prepared to buy stolen goods he was perpetuating the motivation for people to steal.

Thus when I first moved to this former mining village, while I was greeted by so many nice and friendly people, I also witnessed many of the aspects of anti-social behaviour that plagues so many poor working class areas. This included one thug threatening another with a hammer over what appeared to be a dispute over queue jumping in the village store. The first night I went to one of the pubs in the village a drunk thug threw an object through the window. The second time I went to another pub and had a drug dealer openly trying to sell me drugs, well I really did wonder what hell hole I had moved to.

The major redeeming features were the countryside and the majority of decent people here too.

I see no point in relating the many difficulties that I faced here, as simply I have written enough of these events previously. The major event though was when a murder took place two doors away from where I lived when I first moved to the village. The day it happened, I was away working in the woods. While I had called the police to the disturbing sounds and behaviour, it was not until I returned home, that I discovered that there had been a Murder.

While there had been a rather touching incident where a young woman was concerned that I had been the victim, it was only latter that I discovered that because I had stood up to the bullies in the village, that my life was being threatened by some. Therefore the fear that I had been the murder victim was not just that I was geographically close to the horrid event, but because of specific threats.

The impact of the murder meant that the police dealt with most if not all of the criminals in the village. Not least the drug problems. While I am not naive and don't presume that there is no drug use here now, there is no overt dealing and the criminality that goes with drugs has more or less disappeared.

It is and has been my refusing to allow the thugs and the criminal elements in the village to spoil my life here, that has been where the majority of the difficulties I have had stem from. This includes the complaints over feeding the wildlife. It seems that the minority that were creating the majority of the trouble in the village would love to see me gone. However by setting an example, inadvertently it has to be said, of not allowing the thugs and criminals to cower me, the decent majority in the village saw that they too could relinquish the shackles of fear and intimidation that blighted the village.

None of this was intentional on my behalf, all I ever wanted was to be able to live peacefully and enjoy the countryside that I relish for the diversity of the life that abounds.

It has been suggested to me that the complaining neighbours were involved in some way in the drugs problem in the village, while I have no way of knowing if this is true, it would go a long way to explain the behaviour. In the end, they have made themselves appear foolish, childish and petty. Further whatever credibility they may have had, they have destroyed by their own actions. Equally, others in the village have noticed that there is far less crime here now. I will not accept any role in influencing that, as it was the police finally dealing properly with the criminals in the village following the murder that really improved life here.

The village still suffers from poverty, and has many social problems, but if only more places stood up to the criminal elements in their communities, I am sure this would be a much better world.

Personally I am just going to get on with being a strange little Wood Mouse with bizarre habits.

As a side issue, one of the neighbours that was part of the delegation was the farther of the young woman who wants me to take her to see the Badgers. When he called round this evening to tell me of the discussions with the grouch that stole nature, I was just seconds away from getting in the bath. So I had this gentleman and his daughter at my door with me only wearing a towel. Not normally the best way to win friends and influence people. So invited in while I dash and get dressed.

They feel disgusted by the vitriolic influence they have exerted and will not allow their hate to stretch out any further. As while I may appear rather eccentric, keep strange hours, and wander around looking like I was dragged backwards through a hedge, the many times when I have helped people with shopping bags or fetched a newspaper or any number of meaningless tasks has not gone unnoticed. So while I may be a (boring) pain in the neck (that's the clean version) people realise I am mostly harmless. As per the entry in the Hitch hikers guide to the galaxy.

Well it looks like I have had my arm twisted on taking the daughter into the woods to try and see the Badgers, and I will have two young women taking me into the woods. All I ask of them is, Please be gentle!

One last thing, I spotted another way of telling when you are getting old...

(This has a parental guidance warning)

...It is when you notice grey hairs on your pubis.