You
honestly couldn’t make this stuff up. Since we left Brighton over a
month ago, aside from numerous enjoyable walks and entertaining meals
with our families all over the country and dancing in fields at the
Green Man festival, we and those around us seem to have been plagued
with bad luck. (Could it possibly be due to the mirror that broke just
as we set off?) Not that I’m moaning: as I write this I have a smile on
my face. What else can you do?!
Poor
Penelope has endured two failed leaf springs, a malfunctioning gearbox
and a severe oil leak from the oil cooler. Next, we discovered that as
I passed my driving test after 1997, my licence doesn’t allow me to
drive vehicles as heavy as Penelope (3,600kg), prompting me to require
a medical and secondary driving test. On a similar theme, Huw has had
points added to his licence for the first
time in 22 years after being flashed by a speed camera. Needless to say
he was in his parent’s Saab and not the truck but still, it’s probably
best not to mention it to him. Most worryingly of all, Huw’s sister
Suzie has been critically ill and his parents have suffered blows to
their health too.
Yesterday,
the icing of ill fortune was spread, liberally and indulgently, all
over the proverbial cake when we discovered that Clear Springs
Management Limited (look them up)
plan to place a bail hostel in the house next door to our home in
Brighton. Effectively, within weeks, criminals released early from jail
due to overcrowding would be living just over the wall, each for 7-12
weeks at a time. Apparently, due to a legal loophole, this new
government scheme can set up these residences without planning
permission or a chance for neighbours to appeal. You don’t have to dig
deep to discover there is an entire website devoted to supporting those who live near these hostels. Some of their stories make pretty grim reading.
One
tenant gave in her notice immediately. For a few hours, we faced up to
the potentially catastrophic implications: if the others followed suit
and we couldn’t get more tenants or sell the property, we would have no
choice but to abandon the whole trip entirely and move back in, in
order to pay the mortgage.
I
tried to look at the positive sides. There are far worse places to be
than Brighton. We already missed our friends there dearly. The world
will always be there, waiting for us to explore, when the time is
right. Umm. With eight convicted felons living next door, there would
never be a dull moment at Dudley Road? Tenuous, that one.
In
the end, it seems our fears may not be realised. (She wrote, touching
lots of wood as she did so.) Hour after hour, Huw spoke to councillors
and the local Clear Springs wardens, who sufficiently reassured us that
any disruption on the street would result in the individual in question
being sent back behind bars. Crucially, our other friends are happy to
stay in the house, for the time being at least.
And
so, our adventure continues. Tomorrow we head west to walk, rock-climb
and ride our bikes all over Rhossili beach and the Gower, St David’s,
Cardigan Bay, Portmerion, Snowdonia...
