In the centre of the village there is a council property which has always looked, well, rather shabby. Recently it's owner moved out and amid a flurry of council workmen , the inside has been upgraded and improved upon. Unfortunately the garden, which resembled Coventry AFTER the bombing! Had not been improved upon.
I got a glimpse of the potential new tenants a couple of weeks ago when out delivering apples.
They were being shown around by a council rep.....and looked .....well.........a bit........rough.
Today I walked past with the dogs. The property had black plastic bags sellotaped up over every window. I presumed the new people where wanting privacy when they were decorating.
Mrs Trellis walked up.
" what do you think of the bin bags" she whispered nodding at the covered windows " it all looks a bit sinister if you ask me"
" It's a drug den" I told her seriously and as she pursed her lips with worry I added playfully " it's probably a brothel too"
" I don't care if it's a top class hoochi bar" Mrs Trellis snorted loudly " as long as they tidy up the garden...it's a disgrace !"
Village life
We bought a car today too...a sweet smelling red hatchback....... Then it was back home for the school pick up
I got a glimpse of the potential new tenants a couple of weeks ago when out delivering apples.
They were being shown around by a council rep.....and looked .....well.........a bit........rough.
Today I walked past with the dogs. The property had black plastic bags sellotaped up over every window. I presumed the new people where wanting privacy when they were decorating.
Mrs Trellis walked up.
" what do you think of the bin bags" she whispered nodding at the covered windows " it all looks a bit sinister if you ask me"
" It's a drug den" I told her seriously and as she pursed her lips with worry I added playfully " it's probably a brothel too"
" I don't care if it's a top class hoochi bar" Mrs Trellis snorted loudly " as long as they tidy up the garden...it's a disgrace !"
Village life
We bought a car today too...a sweet smelling red hatchback....... Then it was back home for the school pick up
Today's after school activity
Disemboweling the pumpkin
Chances are the new residents have been homeless a while and are likely to be on benefits. There is very little help now to get essentials like cooker and curtains, let alone gardening equipment.
ReplyDeleteMay be time for a bit of village community spirit x
Perhaps you may be right......
DeleteI doubt it....but may be xxx
Can we see the hoochi bar?
ReplyDeleteBet you've seen a few in your time
DeleteKeep the bin bags on the windows and the door closed...as long as the garden looks okay no one will complain lol.
ReplyDeleteA "top class hoochi bar!"
ReplyDeleteI'm with Mrs. Trellis.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't step foot in a top class hoochi bar if the gardens weren't up to snuff.
Don't know what a hoochi bar is!!! But I am with Mrs Trellis all the way - and agree 'that's village life' too.
ReplyDeleteKeep a critical eye on them, J.G. Can't have them dragging the village's standard down.
ReplyDeleteI like her priorities ...
ReplyDeleteThat Mrs. Trellis is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteAs for the truth about the bin bags over the windows... Porn films.
Oh no! What will auntie glad say?
DeleteMaybe the plastic is to protect the windows because they are painting or even better, spray painting the walls etc.
DeleteThey use paper here but same thing .. then they can shoot the porn films with nice clean walls :D
Perahps George Clarke is in there spraying it all white before drawing his new plan on the wall in marker and informing them they need to stump up with 30,000 more pounds than they budgetted for. You can but hope
DeleteWhen new people move in, is it customary to stop by and say hello? If you've got plants that need dividing, you could go over and let them know they're welcome to the dividends if they'd like to put them in the garden, which has been sadly neglected prior to their arrival.
ReplyDeleteCan't say too much for a tidy garden. What a fun surprise to spring on the reaisents behind the black out curtains.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Trellis is a hoot! A late night village investigation is in order! Will the girlies spice and bake the pumpkin seeds? Photos of the new pup mobile?
ReplyDeleteIt's probably a cannabis factory! Xxxx
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new car! You posted that and the photo of the girls after I had commented earlier. Hope the girls enjoy carving the pumpkin.
ReplyDeleteLove the photo! I presume you'd been talking to the girls about The Walking Dead?
ReplyDeleteNot one word...but i did mention we were scraping out the pumpkin's brains
DeleteWhy don't you knock at the new neighbours and ask if they want to take part in the flower show next year?!!! Just let them know that they will have to grow some flowers in order to do this. I bet you are dying to know what is going on behind those black bin liners - or maybe not! Lovely to see the girls enjoying themselves again.
ReplyDeleteHummmmmmm against my better judgement ok i will
Deleteooooooooooooooooh, new car pix please! with a puppy in it!
ReplyDeleteMaybe the remodeling includes new windows, and the old windows have been removed before the new ones can be installed? I shall now Google "hoochi bar".
ReplyDeleteI think "hootch" used to be what they drank during Prohibition here in the US ?
ReplyDeleteHootch (or hooch) is still used as slang in the US for alcoholic beverages. In fact, spell checker tried to change "hoochi" to "hooch". I just read a definition of "hoochi" as a young woman of loose morals. The things I'm learning!
DeleteEntertained AND educated.....GOING GENTLY at its best
DeleteI remember hearing Hootchie Cootchie girls when I was young .. in North Carolina ... if that makes any difference .. probably does, they speak their own language. I had to learn to speak English when I moved to New York lol
DeleteAlso, what they used to call 'moonshine' whisky.
Delete"...and looked .....well.........a bit........rough."
ReplyDeleteWhich is possibly what they were thinking about you...
( I hope Winnie doesn't hump the pumpkin)
More like
Delete" who is that suave country gent with the fabulous dress sense?"
or
DeleteWho is that dapper man with the perfect goatee ( beard/whatever you call it )
or
Delete"Until we get our curtains we will use black bin bags to stop that nosey old git from looking at us like that."
lol...sorry John ... lol ...
DeleteI am a new follower and am loving your humour! I have lived the village life for the last eight years...I love it :) We had a property like this in the village a few years ago, the villagers held kangaroo court in the local pub, of course it took all night, a term otherwise known as a lock in!!
ReplyDeleteWelcome xx
DeleteHomelessness....subsidised housing....been there, done that. Whatever they need they can get. Plastic bags on the windows are just strange....and NONE of the above is an excuse for an untidy garden. If the borders aren't turned within the week John, campaign to get them out!
ReplyDeleteI'll show them some of your work....that should inspire em
DeleteI like Mrs. Trellis!! A hoochie bar.....that's brilliant! :)
ReplyDeleteHow long with the hatchback continue to smell sweet?
ReplyDeleteLove Mrs Trellis's priorities.
Hopefully as long as John doesn't give the new neighbors a ride. Something makes me think they don't smell like flowers. Hidden in there behind their bin bags.
DeleteThink yourself lucky that pumpkins are so de rigeur! I spent countless years chunnelling out the insides of turnips, the scorched smell of which will live with me forever! Love to see your new wheels. x
ReplyDeleteps My Mum has just today learned that the offer she made on a nice little cottage in a nice little village has been accepted. When I went to view it with her yesterday, I noticed that the next door neighbour's garden was still in full bloom and filled with Dahlias and Begonias. She (the neighbour) came out of her house and we got chatting and I said to her 'do you have a flower show in the village.? and she replied 'no' so I said if my Mother was successful in her bid to buy the house we might start one up! I could see the rising panic in the neighbour's face!
ReplyDeleteWe started looking for a new vehicle. The first dealer we went to asked us what colour car we were looking for. Um, hello shouldn't we at least get to see if we like the car first?
ReplyDeleteYour description "sweet smelling red hatchback" is quite vague.
Black bin bags on windows does rather suggest drugs, but hopefully not.
Helen
It's all very well to laugh, but you could all be right ! Could be a hoochi bar (I love that word !) or they could be growing cannabis....or just simply redecorating - or not..... They may eventually have a garden that will win all the awards at the next Trelawynd flower show.. then again, maybe not !
ReplyDeleteHow about a photo of the new car before it's been lived in? I love red cars - my current one is, as have been the last three - bet the next one (if I ever get round to buying it) will be red too.
Jeez, I am glad my neighbors don't toss me out if my garden is unruly.
ReplyDeleteI have an acre of giant trees and grass and all sorts of shrubberies.
Ask Monty Python about Shrubberies.
A village full of kind people, kind and honest.
ReplyDeleteSo the lovely young ladies have been embracing your Walking Dead vibe too...?!
ReplyDeleteProbably more wholesome than the Hoochi bar, high class or not. :-)
You sound sweetly paternal when you saidyou had together home in time for the school run. You are making wonderful memories for these girls x
ReplyDeleteAwesome images and some great things happening - sounds like a great village.
ReplyDeleteShouldn't there be a village welcoming committee to lend a hand with new curtains and gardening?
ReplyDeleteAnd pies and cakes !!
ReplyDeleteOOOOO....... the pressure of 'village life'.
ReplyDeleteYou never know, they may be the star of the flower show by next year. Enjoy the car, pictures soon car and puppy.
ReplyDeleteWhat a pair of characters those girls are. :) Mrs Trellis has the right priorities. :)
ReplyDeleteToday, children, we are playing with knives!
ReplyDeleteI want to go to the Hoochi bar ( whatever it is ! ) Perhaps Nick Knowles & the DIY SOS team are in ! They did a house in our village but no black bags just a huge BBC catering van ! The kids loved chatting to the team.
ReplyDeleteI bet those girls love it at your house xx
Those two little girls have so much fun on the day they are collected by you. I can just imagine how excited they will be yo visit Mary each week, too!
ReplyDeleteKeep us posted on the sinister goings on at the Council house. Doesn't sound as though there is going to be any change to the unkempt garden :(
I've always used newspaper on the windows myself when I've been decorating somewhere new. At least then you can read them when you put them up and check the dates for how long it's taken you to decorate when you take them down :-)
ReplyDeleteYou have very nice, tolerant villagers if all they are bothered about is the state of the garden .... and the house can be used for any savoury OR unsavoury purposes inside!!