 Hearsay
Hello again and welcome from "the Vic, gossip monger and voice of the
people", well the commoner ones at any rate.
Yes here we are another month nearer to the dreaded Yuletide "C" word. We
come to the end of the late summer that for some has been dryer than a Nun's sherry. Well
my attention of late was drawn to the firemen called to tackle a fire or two on the
common. Quite a regular occurrence at this time of year when the weather has been
particularly parched and the local pyromaniac breaks loose from council control. I jest
before I get any letters. Still one shouldn't worry too much as there is always the
knowledge that there is a ready supply of running water across the road in the top common
dew pond, or not as the case may have been. As there seems to be a hole in the ground /
void there now as great as Cromer's new police station's reception area. Besides me thinks
those brave firemen wouldn't have been allowed to haul their fire truck across that sacred
ground that is now to be known as a nature reserve, protecting some so-called rare twigs
and undergrowth that seemingly, out of nowhere just happened to appear along the head high
thicket in the spring. Quite how anybody found them in the first place is beyond me.
And pardon me for questioning it but have I missed something here?
Just when did the common get re-designated a nature reserve in the first place and by
whom? Just when did I as a commoner, lose the right to graze my goat, Granddad's donkey
and hang out the odd line of undies in a good breeze? When did we, the solemn folk of
Sheringham loose the right to have "Bunfires" on "Bunfire night" hold
a carnival car-boot sale or God forbid have a visiting fair once a year?
Did I suddenly get a touch of non compos mentis after a sleep during daytime television
viewing? I really can't say. All I know is that for countless generations of Sheringham
and Beeston folk this was a common right. Oh well with things as they are and land fill
prices at a premium I think I may have just thought up an alternative use for this
impromptu quango re-graded public amenity. |
We could for a start begin to fill it will all the
glossy paper advertising the estate agents hand out to the droves of people searching for
their perfect second homes during the summer. Followed by the cups of despair from the
rest of the young working residents that are left unable to buy any property in the area
bigger than a Thaxters shed. We should then continue to dispose of all those irritating
boy racing cars our ever increasing in number police force should be collecting from the
streets, in order to ensure sanity and peace of mind to one and all after dark on a
Friday. The cubic surface area of just the in-car stereo systems alone should fill a tidy
space the size of the new Olympic stadiums. On top of this we could fill the voids with
store-war literature and hot air from all four parties involved, not to mention the so
called majority objectors to the Tesco debate. All five of them! So upwards and onwards.
And finally to top the infilled pile of dreams, we could place the excess from politicians
profiteering, the bright idea squad from the powers that be who thought it was a great
idea to build a brand new police station at Cromer only not to have a manned desk in it.
And then cover it all up with a bucket of tax disenchantment, misery, political despair
and discontentment, just in time for the winter to come.
Now on a cheery note Shering-Henge is about to be bulldozed to make way for the new
improvements/ profit making rail connection across the road to Norwich. And our very own
Woolworth's store is to reopen in November as a Sainsburys local; otherwise known as a
profiteering convenience store on par with Budgens and the Co-op, bless it. At least
Sunday dads will again have a place to take their children during their visiting orders
and rainy days when the weather on the beach turns out to be too cold for the kiddies. I
do hope they'll have a pick'n'mix counter, I do miss that. And there we are Sheringham, as
always is moving forwards.
With the times or against it, only time will tell, but at least someone is prepared to
give it a go. And who knows maybe next year Tesco will bring to town their version of a
"local" followed by Macdonalds (Please!!!!). And you never know we might even
get a bit of police coverage on the car-park on a evening during the weekends and week
nights along with a traffic warden for the shopping streets, but that might be taking the
miracle a bit too far. So until next time my lovelies, take care now Vic. |
