What's happening in your life? Part 3

Into what?

You want to get that tattooed on your forehead.

It'd learn you for posting it in the first place.

The Burger King I had my early lunch at didn't have any coffee, again.

So I went to a Greggs - not the one I went to last week, a different one - and they had a sign up saying 'sorry no hot drinks'.

But there was a Tesco Express next door, and I thought, I wonder if that Tesco has one of those Costa machines inside. It did, and it was working, and I got some coffee from it. It was very nice too.

It was quite an unusual Tesco Express, every time there was no-one queuing at the tills, the counterman hurried to the front door to take a big toke on his vape.

Why, why, oh why, are you going in Burger Kings?

Because their burgers are much nicer than McDonalds'.

I don't like fried chicken so I don't see what other choices of restaurant I have.

I went to the shops about 2 hours ago and, disturbed by the fact that someone had been banging and hammering away with their balcony doors wide open all day (in the flat where the last woman (who had a 5 year old daughter) had had to flee because of an abusive boyfriend - it was me that called the police that led to her being relocated and the guy being convicted of violence and stalking BTW), I headed off to the shops wondering whether it was a good idea to just tell this potential new member of the 'neighbourhood' that making such a racket at 6pm on a Saturday wasn't really on.

I wasn't going to do it, but as I passed by that part of the estate, an old geezer I know vaguely came out of the doors (to put some recycling in the bins or something) and the moment we made eye-contact he started saying 'it's flat 11, it's been driving me mad all day' and he then buzzed me in and encouraged me to 'have a word'.

Oh, Christ almighty, I wish I hadn't.

I had a bad feeling in my bones as I made my up the stairs.

Now I have a psycho neighbour on my case.

During our fraught exchange he actually mentioned being severely aggravated when some children came into the quadrant to play football (it can be a bit noisy and annoying, but it's something everyone tolerates - especially after Westminster Council threatened to build new flats on 'unused' areas of housing estates as a part of their 'infill plan' - and it never goes on for very long).

It was, without my prompting, when he mentioned his irritation with the kids that he mentioned something along the lines of 'yeah, especially when I take my tablets' that alarm bells began ringing.

Anyway, I'll keep my head under the parapet for the time being.

And give my neighbours a heads up.

Spooky.

The above description of the encounter barely covers how aggressive and replete with scarcely veiled threads of murderous violence his diatribe was.

It was relatively peaceful until I calmly challenged, with lawfully supported authority, his perceived idea of when it was and wasn't acceptable to make so much noise.

Then he lost it.

Big basket he is too.

Started chatting on about how Lisson Grove was his ends, whether I knew what that meant and that he'd live in 'ends' for 35 years.

I countered, perhaps unadvisedly, that I was at the Lisson Grove Estate just yesterday (renewing, for another five years, my tenancy) and that, what was more, I'd lived in the this part of London for over 50 years.

This didn't help matters.

I think that the fact I didn't once even bat an eyelid or show fear might not helped my case either.

I never do when faced with a powerful or unstable physical threat - it's a learned technique that works very well in the moment, but it probably exacerbates the situation in the long round.

Anyway, if I'm unashamedly honest, I was quite shaken up.

Still am.

I shall be treading very lightly for a bit that's for sure.

He seems like such an unstable, insecure, nutter that I'll probably have to be careful regarding how I impart to my neighbours what kind of person he is.

Like, if word goes around...

And he decides it's me what's muck-spreading.

Solidarnoscjar.

I was going to do a TOTP commentary tonight but I'm too tired. I can barely keep my eyes open.

The Call of the Wendigo wrote:I was going to do a TOTP commentary tonight but I'm too tired. I can barely keep my eyes open.

You are weeks and weeks behind now.