6th April 2016 - Of Parking and Proprietory Rights

Thought for the day :" If 666 is considered evil  - is 25.8069 the root of all evil??"

Let me tell you a story...

My mother lives in Burry Port, in a lovely sheltered accommodation which overlooks the local Church St Mary's, the railway and a lovely are of green open land from her balcony..

It is a quiet rural scene with a few  houses down the right hand side of Glanmor  Terrace..  Of course the entrance to the old power station was just down here so it has been an industrial site as well, but for the ears that we have been here it has been quiet and idyllic..

This area for years was used by those living on the right hand side of this picture to store their caravans and cars - allowing plenty of off road parking and keeping the road unrestricted. In fact in this picture you can just see a few cars on the green - of course they should not be there... But that is people for you ..

Now I have a little following about my gallery about people who park without respect for other users and I have always been fascinated by the emotion that can be raised but people who feel that their rights have been usurped, whether through parking in a disabled area, a child area or over more than one parking space... I have a little bit of a thing about people parking on pavements so that pushchairs and wheelchairs cannot pass, but that is another story..

Let us get back to Glanmor Terrace.... Rumour has it that the green has been sold - with a view to building a supermarket, or some houses, or both, or neither.. But a few months ago some red notices started appearing on the caravans and cars parked in the area, giving notice that they should be taken away...  Then some men arrived in vans and started to dig holes and lay concrete and stick posts into the ground to stop cars entering the green...

Then as the posts slowly got placed on the ground over a period of weeks, I saw a large wagon with a Hi Abb crane arrive and start taking cars and vans away...  Needless to say, the cars that were regularly parked on the green soon disappeared and found other places to park...   And the relentless concreting of posts continued until finished...

Finally, the green was clear of all vehicles and there were no cars or vehicles there.
I got the impression that most people disliked this movement but accepted that if there was to be work started then it was one of those things that you had to put up with....

But nothing happened...

Well, very early in the time I noted that they had put a nice metal gate with a big padlock on it. I arrived the next day to see the padlock there and a chain but someone had stolen the gate - allowing access onto the green.....  A few days later it was replaced and they reinforced the lock and the hinges, which otherwise allowed you to lift the gate off the pole..

And weeks went by, and it seems that the residents who had forfeited their access to the land began to rebel....   I noted that one of the posts had been uprooted overnight..   I saw a van arrive and replace it ... a few days later two posts were uprooted .. The vans came back...
 

A week went by and another couple of posts were uprooted...
I watched to see what would happen - nothing...

So a week or so later another couple of poles were uprooted and lo and behold, a couple of cars tentatively started to park back on the green...

Weeks have now gone by and no men in vans have returned. No work has started on the land.. My own feeling is that it is another piece of land bought to bank for the future when the land will increase in value... while the uncaring owners will try to keep anyone else off the land - but for no real purpose...

So, each day I pass, I watch as more cars appear back on the land as they have for years.. A finger in the air to those who decided that they could close the land for their own purposes... It seems a little like the enclosure acts of the past...  but you cannot defeat the locals... 

I wait to see what will happen n the future....   Don't mess with what people feel are their rights to park..

And so I lift a glass of Chateau 41 and wish you well