Happy New Year

The NY has started quite positively for us - lots of new projects and some interesting stuff going on - but not so for others. A young man died in the village on NYE as a result of being slipped a tab of acid by his 'friends' (a terrible thing to do): after the classic bad trip, he hanged himself. People tend to think that the English countryside is a safe place, but it is more like Midsomer Murders in some respects - there is a lot of drug use in our little village. Everyone knows who these people are, including the police, but nothing seems to get done.

Next day, J looked out of the window of the shop in Glastonbury itself and saw 5 teenagers (4 boys and a girl) storm a moving car in the street. The driver, naturally irate, got out and decked two of them - he must have been an amateur boxer, because he felled both of them with a punch apiece, which is quite hard to do. He was then attacked by the girl, shrieking and punching, and (being either gallant or sexist, depending on your point of view) said, 'Look, love, I'll give you three chances and then you're on your own.' She did not listen, and continued to attack him, so he punched her in the face and knocked her out as well - by this time J, who was phoning the police, said the road was littered with unconscious bodies like something out of the Keystone Cops. Then the remaining two tried to drag the driver's friend out of the car as well, and the friend laid both of them out.

Reding a copy of Pembrokeshire Life, which features a '100 years ago today' section, this was by no means unusual: that featured a rugby forward who was assaulted in 1912 in the street by a female supporter of the losing team. He did not retaliate, which was probably lucky for her.