Tirade

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!

Mr Don't-Park-Your-Van-Outside-My-House decided, in his wisdom, to tackle The Builder yesterday about his anti-social persistence in parking outside No 6, Queen Victoria Road. Now No 6, QVR is the first point at which the double yellow lines (which indicate that you may not park there and which run past our house) stop. If you see what I mean. In fact, The Builder doesn't park there all that often. Mostly he parks in Ward Street, where there are lots of other vans to keep his company. Sometimes he parks further down Bridge Street, towards the railway bridge, where I ordinarily park the Vixen. Occasionally he parks outside No 6 QVR.

Now, if Mr Don't-Park-Your-Van-Outside-My-House had approached The Builder in a calm and orderly manner and asked him nicely not to park outside his house cos then he can't admire his nice, shiny, new 4WD from his lounge room window, or because Mrs D-P-Y-V-O-M-H was giving him grief about the van, or because he is a lazy little bugger who can't be bothered walking a few extra steps to his front door, then no doubt The Builder would have obliged. Probably not best practice, though, to hammer on the door and then start yelling, and shouting, and swearing. Emphatically not the approach I would take if I wanted to persuade The Builder to do something. I fear The Builder is now likely to park there at every available opportunity. Though this is also not the approach I would take. The man appears to be a bully (Steve Next Door reports that he (Mr D-P-Y-V, not Steve) hassled Billy, who used to live at No 4 BS, about his van and told some of Steve's rellies off for parking there too) and my feeling is that bullies are best ignored completely, so that we should continue to park where and when we see fit.
On the other hand, Richard did mention that he has a pal with a traction engine. Perhaps we really should get the pal to park it outside No 6 QVR. Give them something new to admire from the lounge room window.

The Builder has pointed out that it is a great pity Steve wasn't at home to witness the tirade. Alas, he and the rest of the family are sunning themselves in Benidorm, or some such place.

I blame Mr D-P-Y-V's mother, myself. He clearly hasn't been taught that "I Want, Doesn't Get"!