Too busy to brew...

[AdeDunn]

What can I say, just been too busy to brew lately...

Between local brats deciding that our living room window is good for target practice, leading to 4 days of constant call outs to the police, and our finally installing CCTV:-



Hiring a skip to do a MASSIVE spring clean of the house and garden, including getting rid of all of my old glass vivs and a 40 gall aquarium that have all been sat empty for years now:-


(CCTV camera makes for cool shots of the front, where we don't spend time even to clear up as gangs of youth gather to hurl verbal abuse, sometimes stones, at us, hence the sorry state.. Lovely kids here for sure. The local police, council and bus companies however have formed a task force to clamp down on them, as it's gotten so bad now. We actually ended up with police car parked on our front for 30 minutes one night after calling them out...)

Not to mention a LOT of time working on and in the back garden still:-


I just haven't been finding time, or energy to get a brew on.... lol

It will all slow down a bit soon though, and THEN I'll get my next brew on... Something pale with cascade in it...

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Good on you for coping with what sounds like a very difficult situation - I would be at my wits end!
Your back garden looks brilliant - top job there :hat:

Hang in there and don't let the little buggers grind you down. They will hopefully find something else to occupy their tiny minds...

 

[cushyno]

Crikey @AdeDunn! I can't imagine having to live in fear of rocks and abuse being hurled at you every day. I do hope the police and council manage to stamp out the menaces and make the area safe you and your neighbours.

When you have your tidying done and get a free day you'll really appreciate being able to brew again.
Take care.

 

[Arrakus]

I understand your pain, we had 2 years of similar trouble. we live on a cul de sac with fields behind us. The only access to the fields is through a row of garages two houses away. The local kids liked partying in the fields....then in our street. Lots of verbal abuse and damage to cars and gardens followed. Was an absolute nightmare.

Constant calls to police and complaints at local council meetings eventually lead to a lockable gate being erected in front of the garages.....the kids just stopped turning up then.

There is light at the end of the tunnnel - just keep pushing your local MP, councillors and police for action. We (residents from the 7 houses in the street) were in constant touch with the Anti Social Team from the council (Birmingham), they were a great help.

 

[Clint]

Get an effin great big dog...

 

[crowcrow]

Sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations, but that next beer will taste awesome in that garden I'm sure.

 

[AdeDunn]

Well, we put my new gazebo up yesterday, and we just assembled the baker's rack that I brew on under it. Just need some new host to run water from the garden tap when filling my boiler etc and I'll be ready to brew again.



Touch wood, between the police and council clamp down, and them noticing that we'd put a CCTV camera up, the local brats have calmed down a little bit, so far. Local council are also on about putting a temporary camera up opposite to keep an eye on the ball park and playing field too, as anti social behaviour has become a problem here, not just for us, so they're looking to clamp down on it hard.

On the bright side, got a lot of hopefully delicious food growing out in the back, 2 types of pea, 3 types of spud, currants, garlic, spring onions.... lol If the wood pigeons keep trying to pinch my seedlings I'll be adding them to the menu too.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Fingers crossed for you mate

 

[The Baron]

Unfortunately Ade seems to be a common thing these days, we have in one of our areas a culture of the youth throwing stones at Taxi's and Buses which means they withdraw their services at times so people who need the Bus or a Taxi for work find it very hard.
Keep your chin up mate and if all else fails start a Vigilante group and sort them out

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Get yourself one of these -

 

[AdeDunn]

Get yourself one of these -

My teenaged daughters, and probably my dogs, would not thank me.... lol We actually have an ultra sonic anti-bark device with a setting for that, we don't use it for either as as an anti bark it's useless, it just confuses the dogs, and yeah my daughters would be a bit annoyed with me if I set it to drive off teenagers (sometimes it's tempting... lmao).

They were throwing at buses and cars here too, so they set up a task force to deal with it, which has helped a fair bit. They've categorised ours though as harassment due to the persistent nature, multiple nights in a row of them having to come out, followed by more nights where they were just called to log incidents with no actual damage caused, 1 night they basically sat in front of our house for 30 minutes until they got the message and went home...

For once, we're getting lots of support, the council are arranging to fit anti climb stuff to the gate down the side of our house, as well as reinforcing it, replacing the door handle on the front door and fitting anti-shatter film to the inside of the windows once they've been replaced, so that if it does happen again it won't be as big a mess, or as dangerous. Our landlord has been less helpful, cheeky sod wanted to know if we were willing to go halves, or pay for the most recent window completely. I suggested politely that given that it was criminal damage, and that the police had caught 1 group, that his insurance company pursue the parents of the kids involved to get some money back instead... They may be more inclined to control their kids if it costs them money when they don't.

I'm not one for giving in easily, don't worry, nor is my wife. We're going to give the authorities as much of a chance as possible, along with our CCTV (we've also got a RING doorbell waiting to go up once the front door has been repaired) to help them identify culprits, to stop them. If they still fail, we've already been told by the local council housing department that if the police write them a letter they will happily rehouse us (we rent privately at the moment). It really is amazing how much support we've been getting for once.

 

[Binkei Huckaback]

It sounds like your council is being really great, but it seems to me rehoming people (victims or perpetrators) is barely a sticking plaster on society's ills and a very expensive one at that.

We've had some crap neighbours who've been evicted and I imagine the council who paid their rent has found them somewhere else to live, but it now means they're behaving in the same way elsewhere.

 

[AdeDunn]

Yeah, the rehoming option is, for us at least, a final option. We moved from our last home to escape similar behaviour, and had 8 peaceful years here, until a chap 2 doors down from us got out of prison a couple of years ago, and then all of this kicked off (we're pretty certain, and so are the police, that he's part of an organised gang...). Moving, well odds are you just find new trouble with different people. Better to fix the trouble where you are if it's possible.

As to evicting the trouble makers, they must do it different here, as pretty sure if you are evicted by the council here (the council own the housing association that runs the properties here, rather than it been a private company like a lot of areas) because of criminal or anti social behaviour, they just kick you right out, rather than moving you. It's done with the police, the property is then boarded up with a notice that it's not to be used for a short while, as a sort of "this is what happens if we have to boot you out" kinda message. But yeah, it moves the behaviour elsewhere, that's always been the case though, you either end up with ghettos, or you end up with areas that were once nice getting ruined when they suddenly move A-holes into them. Short of setting up a-hole colonies, away from everybody, I'm not sure there will ever be a solution to that, as some people just don't change.

Some of these kids DO have nice relatives, and yeah they can maybe change (one of their grandparents told the police to tell us where they live, and that if we see them causing trouble again to come speak to them, as an example.), but some of them their parents are just as bad (like the one that Kirsty found, who's response was basically "yeah, that's how we do things here, don't like it, move.", not their exact words, but that was their meaning anyway.

I'm afraid that I've had to become a bit selfish at this point, and honestly say that so long as they're not here bothering my family, then it's not my problem any more. I've tried been more compassionate and caring etc, but too many people keep voting against that kind of approach. Send them to Stoke or something... lmao