Picking over a carcass.

A general rant. Enjoy.

So how have thing been over the last few weeks in general: a few sleepless nights due to odd car behaviour in the street (more on that later), unsecure abandoned buildings, rubbish filled bin yards and the commencement of demolition. All good stuff.

Linked to this is the thought in my head, “am I the only person who calls the police and reports stuff?”

I’m sure I’m not, as I get regular updates from our Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator and these tell me that other people have been arrested and stopped mid crime due to calls from residents. Both reassuring and disturbing in equal measures.

I’m never sure when you stop being a concerned member of the community and become an irritating loon because you report things to the police or the local authority because you ‘think’ you’ve seen or heard something.

I suspect I fall somewhere between the two.

Legitimate calls or emails to the police or the neighbourhood watch coordinator I’ve made over the last few months have been made up of:

•  reporting the stealing of bin yard metal work (left there by the council because NOBODY would think of nicking fixtures and fittings from abandoned buildings!);
• reporting a witnessed vandalism/attempted breaking on an abandoned property on my street;
•  reporting a suspected act of vandalism/attempted break in on one of the streets along from me (heard but didn’t see breaking glass and general smashing late at night) and last but not least
•  people rummaging through rubbish bins and tipping the contents out on to the ground of the bin yards on 3 separate occasions.

I think I should have called the police over a couple of other things, but had no real information to give them other than; “I’ve seen a weird man driving around our streets at night with no headlights on. He wasHeHe was stopping and starting his car and changing parking spots regularly, so generally behaving in a suspicious way.”

Perhaps he was just socially inept, people sometimes are you know, but I don’t think ignorance of your inconsiderate behaviour is a good enough defence for behaving like a thoughtless knob.

Added to this there are people standing in abandoned bin yards at night for no good reason, people driving up and down the street in-between the bin yards at night with their headlights off (different car this time) and people gunning their car engines to reach maximum warp at all times of the day and night (it’s hardly Silverstone in South Leeds – no one needs to go above 20 mph in a residential area). 

However because the street lighting is poor on our street and no one lives opposite me anymore, (I don’t even get ambient light from their houses, woe is me) I can’t see clearly enough to make a note of useful information such as make, model or the number plate of repeat offenders without going and standing directly in front or behind these cars with a pad and pen. Not likely to happen!

I suspect they are fly tipping or at the very least assessing their options for fly tipping, though the bin yard opposite me stays relatively free of trash since I called to have it cleared last year (LCC very quick to respond to this by the way). 

I suspect this in some way due to my ostentatious curtain twitching and arms crossed front-door-step stance that I take-up whenever I see anyone suspicious lurking unnecessarily near my house  - I’m really am only three curlers, a house-coat and a hairnet away from becoming Hilda Ogden.

But this does highlight for me the general anxiety I feel now when at home. Every noise, car engine, smash, bang and alarm has me leaping up to have a look. I Shhhhhhhh people on the phone and wake in the night and so I can nervously twitch my curtains (not a euphemism by the way) every time I hear an unusual sound.

I watched a telly programme the other week about an elephant carcass in Africa, killed by poachers I believe, and the predators, scavengers and organisms that picked over its flesh and bones. In a matter of days it was a deflated elephant skin suit except for a writhing, bubbling mass of maggots. The larger predators had quickly arrived and taken the softer easier targets (I was particularly impressed with the first hyena’s choice of entry point! That must have been what Local Authorities felt like when the budget cuts were announced! See link to video on YouTube below) and finally the insects and other small things rapidly consuming what was left of poor old Dumbo. 

I thought at the time; welcome to my world where my street is a dying pachyderm; a monument to prehistoric housing and bad investment. The neighbourhood is quite literally being picked clean by predators and scavengers. Except unlike poor predated Dumbo from the telly, my community isn’t dead and its constituent parts are not being redistributed to nourish the flora and fauna of South Leeds. The remaining residents have to watch whilst this attack spreads like an infection. This diseased area will not be picked clean quickly; it’s being left to rot.

I’m not sure I know where the blame lies, everyone seems to be holding up their hands and saying ‘don’t look at me. We’re doing the best we can’. But they don’t live here so let’s hope the Big Society works and we can reclaim our streets

 Poor old Dumbo’s sticky end meets what can only be described as a ‘sticky end’.

Demolition starts

OK, so walked home today to see that demolition has started, which is good. However it's only happening on one small block, still  leaving a majority of empty properties. As I popped down the road to take a few piccies to document the destruction, I noticed that at least 2 houses, not scheduled for demolition, had their secure doors wide open. Ummmmmm not very reassuring, this place is going to Hell in a hand basket. I've emailed the council so we'll see what their response is.

Here's a picture of some demolition. To give the construction (destruction?) people their due it's been a pretty horrible day, but perhaps the grey damp air helps to keep the dust down.

Woo woo, that’s the sound of the police.

Ok so it’s not like I’ve lived anywhere that’s been totally devoid of crime, however since regeneration began I’ve noticed a marked upturn in blatant criminal activity around my street.

In a two week period I’ve called the police out twice because of smashing glass and attacks on the empty properties, last night being one of them. It seems we are easy pickings for any passing scumbag. I can only assume this will get worse the longer the derelict properties remain poorly secured.

We’ve had reports from the neighbourhood watch coordinator about more empty properties being raided for fixtures and fittings. Which raises the question, why have these properties not been cleared properly in the first place?

But perhaps that’s for another post.

To add to the criminal activity in sunny south Leeds I have also reported people for steeling railings and sifting through and tipping rubbish out. To be fair to them the police have been quick to respond, but it doesn’t make me feel any better about living in a street that’s so obviously neglected.

This doesn’t take into account the anti-social behaviour that has often characterised my time in South Leeds, not mine I hasten to add. But again, I’ll leave this to another post; I just wanted to have a quick rant about the down side of regeneration. 

Brilliant last minute update. Came home from the pub last night to see a police van and an ambulance disappearing down the street. Woo Woo indeed . . . . . .

Unusual requests from a neighbour.

Characters of South Leeds

In the past I’ve had some interesting interactions with my fellow loiners. In reference to my earlier talk of my community’s transient population, my street has on occasion played host to some less than salubrious characters. One that gave me some of my more interesting experiences has long since moved on. 

The first time I met her was when she knocked on my door asking for £1 for bus fare. I recognised her from the street and rather naively said ‘sure’; that’s what neighbours do right? So I handed over a shiny pound coin after receiving an ‘honest’ promise to pay me back ‘when I cash me giro’ after all it was only a pound. Obviously that was the last I saw of that £1. 

I try and subscribe to the adage “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me” so imagine my surprise when a few months later she reappeared. This time with another request,

“Can I borrow some cash to buy some dog food?” Oddly enough I was not overly keen on being treated like a complete mug again, so whilst not wanting to enrage or antagonise my neighbour, I also needed to establish that I was no longer a pushover. 

Firstly I asked her when she’s acquired a dog, as I’d not seen her with one, ever.

“Oh it’s for me mate’s dog”, she replied. A likely story!

‘Bollocks’ I thought, but not wanting to appear unhelpful I offered her some leftovers from last night’s dinner instead. She looked bewildered and less than impressed with my generous offer, so I went to shut the door. 

Undeterred by my sidestepping her request she craftily changed tack. “Can I have £1 to buy toilet paper?” I said “no, but you can have a few sheets of kitchen roll if you like?”

No? I didn’t think so. I think at this point even the most hardened scam artist would have sensed that I wasn’t going to fork out the cash, but this wasn’t enough of a hint for my friend. 

“Can I have some money to buy some tampons, I’ve run out?” 

I can only assume this is a tried and tested strategy to embarrass one’s intended victim into a display of mumbling awkwardness, blushing and handing over some of their hard earned dosh so as to avoid a mortifying discussion about ‘surfing the crimson tide’ with a complete stranger; however she had underestimated me, so instead I whipped out a selection of tampons from my handbag and asked if she wanted one of my ‘spares’; she could have one of each if she liked.

No? What about a panty liner or two? (I made the panty liner bit up, but you get the idea)  Finally it seemed the had penny dropped and she shuffled off without accepting any of my proffered gifts: not even a sanitary towel clutched in her sweaty palm, but more importantly realising that she wouldn’t put one over on me again.

What it's like to live in a 'Regeneration' Area

What it’s like to live in a ‘regeneration’ area.

I live on a street in South Leeds made up of back to back terraced houses all about 100 years old.

I have lived there for about 7 years. As a private owner occupier I have often found it a challenge to feel fully settled in a landscape with such a transient population and as a result I think the community I live in does not always gel as well as it could.

Just over a year ago I received notification from Leeds City Council that the two rows of houses opposite mine would be purchased and demolished to make way for new housing. After the initial shock I began to see the positives; better housing, increased property values, a more permanent population etc, this could only be a good thing right?

With the support of Leeds City Council we began to form a community group and as a group we began to envision what our new environment might look like and how we might be able to influence its progress and development; initial shock turning to a general sense of hopefulness and welcoming positive change.

Progress has been slow though this I’m told is not unusual; membership of the community group is relatively low and not necessarily representative of the whole community who are more often than not tenants either in social housing or via private landlords, rather than owner occupiers. We’ve probably met about 6 or 7 times over the last year and a half but with the changing economic and political climate since the 2010 election, things do not look hopeful.

As the houses opposite me have been purchased for demolition the surrounding area has taken on an air or abandonment and dereliction. The view from my window and my daily walk home from work gives me charming scenes of bin yards full of dumped rubbish, boarded up houses, vandalised doors and windows that all contribute to the sense of neglect that envelops my street. The long winter nights have not improved this.

I used to drive past places like this and think, ‘thank goodness I don’t live there’, but now I do and it’s not a happy realisation. So what’s this blog all about?

Feeling isolated and a bit abandoned, but generally I hope being a positive person I want to record is what it’s like to live amongst this general atmosphere of neglect and decline and draw attention to the real impact of Government cuts on already disadvantaged communities. What I hope will come through is that we can still impact upon decisions that affect our every day lives and to track and document a living example of Prime Minister Cameron’s Big Society. Also I might post the odd amusing story about live in South Leeds in general. Wish me luck, I think I might need it.