Ooh I am upset today. I have had to go around all the things growing on the allotment and say goodbye to them just in case. Because last night a group of 3 youths came onto the allotments and started poking around in people's sheds >:(, my GOH went up and challenged them and it took him 20 minutes to get them to leave, which they did eventually but only after threatening to come back and punch out all the greenhouses etc.
So now I don't know what to expect when we go to the lottie tonight, I am hoping it was only bravado but you never know.... :'( :-\
Ten x
crikey. i hope everything is ok when you get back there!
Poor Ten. Hope you've got a good memory for faces. Scary!
Are bear traps - the covered hole type - legal on allotments?? With a warning sign, of course! = Tim= Tim
Well done fpr challenging them. I hope that they were all noise and no action...
Let me guess...funny little caps that make them look like ducks, hooded tops, tracksuit boittoms and running shoes perchance ?
Scurge of England
Boot camp em all
Fingle were you there??
WERE YOU ONE OF THEM?!
I think there was an awful lot of mouth, mostly beginning with "f". But my GOH kept his cool and was calm throughout. So I am crossing my fingers that it was just teenage bravado...
Ten x
Probably related to the yobs who have trashed my car 3 times in 18 months.....two weeks age I saw a gang of about 10 youngsters (in the regulation caps etc) they were climbing over a neighbours wall (3pm) god knows what they were up to but I took several close-up photos of them before they spotted me and legged it, when the police eventually arrived I told them that I'd taken photos of the lads but they didn't want to know ::)
I suggest you do as I have done in the past, wait until you see one of them on their own then confront them...they seem to lose their bravado (and the control over their bowels) when that happens.
Chaz
They know you cant touch them or do anything so they just gloat and target your car etc when you not around
Not true Fingle, the gang that did my car did several others in the same street plus more a few streets further on, as for them thinking I can't touch them or do anything, when I was living in a different area a gang of youths severely beat up my brother putting him in hospital...I picked them off one at a time at night, no witnesses. Its no good confronting a gang, you'll get abuse (or worse) just remember and watch..you'll get them in the end.
I don't advocate wanton violence but do believe in an eye for an eye etc.
Fingers crossed for you both, Tenuse.
All best - Gavin
humm-this takes me back a bit,just remember that lottie folk come from all walks of life-but they will respect their plot-I used to know one or two `shady` characters-just tip them the wink.
Stephan.
Reminds me of a decade or 3 ago - when rules were different - when our elder son was getting beaten up, in daylight, in this quiet village. I went out, took the 2 'yobs' by the collar, beat their heads together & asked them *** politely to leave. Never been seen since!! Those were the days. I've seldom enjoyed anything more!! = Tim
Hope everything goes o.k. Tenuse - thought you might be back from the lottie by now to tell us, hope you manage back on tonight.
It's depressing when you realise how widespread all this vandalism and lack of natural respect for other people really is.
Thanks for your thoughts everybody, I am pleased to report that it was obviously a case of "all mouth no trousers", as when we went up at the weekend everything was still intact.
I can't imagine how I will feel if/when eventually something DOES get vandalised, this was bad enough, and I really feel for people who have actually had all their hard work damaged. But how fantastic are you all for keeping going regardless!!!
Lots of love
Ten x
Relief all round that "one of our own" is o.k. Notice how "protective" this site is of it's members eh? that is such a good thing as work colleagues, friends etc will of course sympathise when crops/plots are vandalised but only another "grower" can really understand.
Phew! Rotten kids, >:( I give up I really do! Glad everything is okay Ten, a big relief all round huh! :)
Good news, Tenuse!
Worth taking a mobile phone to the plot?
From experience, it works best if the battery is totally flat, or if you use a kiddies' toy phone. A dummy conversation with the police can work well; my genuine conversations with the cops were the simplest recipe I've ever met for apoplectic fury! :( :( :(
Hope it doesn't happen again! All best, Gavin
It seems to be a growing trend!..2 weeks ago 2 fellow allotment holders were "doing their thing" on their own allotment and they got fired at by a group of teenagers (with the appropiate caps) using air rifles.The police were called and 2 hours later still hadn,t shown up..I know the police force is seriously undermanned and underpaid but with instances like the above is it any wonder that people are losing all faith in the constabulary..
I would have dialled 999 of i was being shot at.
ANY weapon being fired should get an armed response unit
Tenuse
Glad to hear all is still well at your lottie. You may not know but we were done over the other week and it really gets to you, whenever I think about the fact that people were rummaging and taking what they wanted from our lottie it still raises my blood.
Touch wood, but since I reinforced the sheds and strung barbed wire around the tops of our fences there is no evidence of anyone trying it on again.
But if the day ever comes when they get in and I am around then God help them.
Take care all, and keep the lotties secure!
Les
I wonder if they mentioned that they were air rifles? People (police included) underestimate the damage they can do, and think they are just toys. I'd suggest "He's got a gun and he's shooting at us". I'm not paid to identify firearms, nor am I under any duty to act as a living target for those s***s.
A guy that lives down the road from my wifes parents arrived home one evening and saw that burgler was in his house, he rang the police and waited outside for them to arrive, 20 minutes later he rang them back as no one had turned up to sort it out and said
" you know that burgler i told you about, you dont need to hurry now, i just shot him"
several police cars arrived in less than a minute....