Smudger Snippets
Created | Updated Jul 26, 2007
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days that all these memories come flooding back to me.
Shattered Dreams
Having been sat here for quite some time and scrolling through the list of all my previous Snippets, I suddenly realised that I had run out of things to write about. So I would lean over to my right and have a look at the television, which I can see from here while sitting at my computer in another room. Behind me is a large bag of shredded documents, all relating to my claim from an industrial injury to my back, which happened over seven years ago and finished my working life. I have been shredding them over the past couple of days; there were so many that the shredder started to overheat and stop.
In fact, when I am finished I will have shredded four drawers full of letters and documents. It would not have been so bad if I had won my case, but in fact the amount of compensation I eventually won was just a mere fraction of the six-figure amount mentioned at the start of it all. Just enough to buy us a new LCD television for the living room and a new FST monitor for my computer and another television for Mk2 to watch in our bedroom, as that is where she spends most of her time these days, due to her poor health.
So to say that I am feeling a bit low just now would be an understatement, as our lawyer had led us to believe that there would be enough money for us to buy a small detached bungalow and move out of this nightmare of a flat we are still living in. All those years we had spent planning our ideal future while putting up with our noisy neighbour with his loud music and barking dog. It seems that this man can get away with everything he does. We have had the police and the council at his door, and yet after four years of promises from them all he is still doing the same things, as well as keeping his dog despite the council promising us that his dog would be taken away. According to the council, he never even had permission to have a dog in the first place. Yet despite everything, he and his dog are still here and nothing has changed. The dog still barks incessantly all day and night.
When we first complained to him around four years ago, his response was to come round and start kicking our door and screaming death threats at us. After that, things just got worse, despite all the police and council officials' visits. His next move was to pay one of the many local junkies twenty pounds to put a brick through our window; this was not only done once, but a total of eight times! On five occasions, the missile actually came through the window; on the other three they either missed the glass or the stone bounced off. All of these incidents happened within one year, along with other events like condoms full of urine being thrown at our front door and bleach being poured over our roses in the garden and weed killer poured over the rest of our flowers. Yet every time we had visits from the police and the council officials and at the end of all, nothing was ever actually done. Our house insurance shot up 200%, which we can hardly afford, but they told us that we were lucky that they would take us on at all. All this and other matters have been discussed at the many meetings we have had with all the officials involved, even our local councillor, as well as our MP, who actually came to our house and promised much the same as the rest of them.
We had a camera set up, which we bought ourselves, and it did catch one incident on film of one of the junkies actually throwing a brick at our window, which was shattered! He was arrested the following day and charged for the crime, but nothing had been done ever since, as the police told us that his case could take another year to come to court. Even then they told us that his social worker will probably plead a case for him and he would be let off with a caution! Of course, all this has had an effect on us both, and it has really affected the health of Mk2, who is terminally ill with emphysema as well as having blood clots in both of her legs. As for me, well, I have recently been diagnosed with having PTSD, which the doctor says I would have had anyway, due to my time in the forces and ambulance service. He did tell me, however, that all these recent events have probably brought it on as well.
So when we bought this place seven years ago, when I first was transferred down here with the ambulance service, we had no idea of what our new neighbour from hell was capable of. Although given recent events, we now have a fair idea. I think what hurts us both the most is the fact that nobody has been able to help us. I mean, the police fitted extra cameras, but as I said at the time, what's the point if even after catching the people involved they are going to get away with it anyway?
So, tomorrow I will finish off all the shredding and try and put all the disappointment behind me and wonder whatever happened to our dream of moving out of here into that nice secluded bungalow the lawyer promised us? Even if I was still working, I couldn't afford a bigger mortgage and besides, my age is also against me now. So that is that, as they say. Shattered dreams.
