Antisocial behaviour is ‘worse in Alderney than in London’
Monday 10th August 2009, 2:00PM BST.
ANTISOCIAL behaviour in Alderney has been branded worse than London’s.
St Anne householders have recently complained of groups shouting, swearing and not respecting people’s property during the early hours.
Victoria Street resident Philippa Arditti moved to the island from the capital two years ago and outlined what she and husband Paul are forced to put up with.
‘The noise, language and general disrespect in the early hours of the morning are worse in Alderney than in London. We’ve had visitors stay with us this summer and I don’t think any of them will ever come again.’
Another Victoria Street householder, Mark Harding, said rowdyism was preventing him sleeping.
‘In 27 days I’ve managed to sleep uninterrupted just three times. As well as listening to shouting and swearing, I’ve had to put up with people urinating in my shop doorway and setting off firecrackers at four in the morning.
‘I’ve also broken up fights in the early hours and heard someone carrying a radio up the street.’
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That is why I will never go back to this Island, the people show a total lack of respect for other people and property.
I feel safer in London than I ever did in Alderney.
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WELL I KNOW PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN TOWN WHO SIMPLY HAVE EARPLUGS !!!
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Well all I can say is if you don’t like it then go back to where you came from! I cannot believe that anyone could even compare Alderney to London on a busy weekend…how many serious attacks have you seen lately in Victoria Street?!?
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Alderney has an ‘open container’ law. Yet only last week I saw two police officers walking up Victoria Street completely ignore a large group of visitors walking up the street swigging from cans and being rowdy.
There is no point in the States passing laws to keep the streets free of anti-social behaviour if the laws are not enforced.
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These people say they feel safer in London? When was the last time someone was shot, stabbed, mugged, beaten, etc in Alderney?
I would expect the same problems with ‘anti-social behaviour’ living in any town/city center.
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You’re right it is simple and we do!!!
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Anti-Social behaviour in Alderney worse than in London?! What part of London are they talking about?! This is one of the craziest comments I think I’ve ever heard!
Someone please tell me I’ve missed the joke.
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A further thought is how do earplugs stop people urinating on your property and smashing windows? I bought a box of 500 pairs and not one of them can do that.
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I lived in Alderney in 1981 and stayed for 18 months before moving to guernsey. I have since returned to the uk. My Alderney experience was the most memorable time of my life, one great big party, there was noise in the streets then, but no one cared, everyone just had fun young and old. DONT CHANGE ANYTHING.
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Just had a look at some of today’s headlines on http://www.thisislondon.co.uk (catchy name don’t you think, wonder where they got the idea from…………)
So we have :-
“Man stabbed to death with machete in pub garden”
“Children, 13, being maimed as gun gangs fire warning shots”
” Girl, 12, ‘was prostitute for pocket money’”
” Teenagers attacked in weekend of violence
A 15-year-old boy was shot and a teenager is fighting for his life after being stabbed during a weekend of violence in London”
“Londoner accused of killing teenager faces years on remand in Greek jails”
Wow, Alderney must really be bad to be worse than this! The bodies must be stacked up in the high street every weekend.
However it turns out the most interesting thing on the main page is the poll asking “Should council workers have their pay frozen?” At the moment 76% of people think so……… Maybe we should try the same poll on this website and see what the rest of the working public thinks of our wonderfully efficient ‘Civil’ Servants?
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Oh come on – worse than London???. I have lived in London and in upmarket towns just outside the capital and I agree its noisy in Alderney sometimes in the streets, but worse than London/UK – NO!!!!!
Moved here to get away from the noise of the UK towns, vomit everywhere, lots and lots of litter and foul language and drinking to excess.
Get onto Team Alderney (Police) as they call themselves and keep complaining. A note to them as well about being so understanding to youths as well. Dont understand the miscreants arrest them and charge them.
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i dont know which part of london you people claim to come from but it was obviously a nice upper class part. i was born in london and moved to the channel islands when i was 14, i then moved back to london when i was 21. i have not had a full nights sleep in years as all i hear all night is either sirens or the sound of rival gangs fighting. there is on average at least one stabbing a night in my part of west london and car theft and burglaries are an every day occurence that we have come to expect so how they can compare alderney to london is absolutely ridiculous. i would willingly swop with these people any time they want, i could put up with a little bit of noise knowing that i will not be attacked with a knife if i step outside my front door.
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Earplugs? Why should they have to wear ear plugs. Are people too stupid to realise that shouting, peeing, swearing and fighting in the wee small hours in a residential area is just plain immature. As the new Sergent is having a crack down on anti social behaviour I trust this will be nipped in the bud soon.
However, to make a statement such as “Antisocial behaviour is ‘worse in Alderney than in London’” is also pretty ridiculous and clearly the writer has never lived on the Holloway Road or at Angel Islington for example.
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About as accurate as the headline “Bridge is like Brooklyn” we had a few years ago.
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The comparison between London and Alderney is daft, thats not what the issue was supposed to raise and no doubt there is an amount of dramatisation.
I do live in the named street, three years we have been here and yes the noise recently has got far worse. We bought in the street as it was affordable and yes we did expect noise and other forms of anti social behaviour when we bought the property, it comes with the territory and especially expected not to get a winks sleep during Alderney Week. Certainly wouldn’t want to curb people’s enthusiasm neither for a good night out and in fact at times it is quite fun listening to some of the so called private conversations taking place. The worst noise though is way after pubs shut, the worst time normally being betwen 1am and 4am in the morning and I hear kids getting the blame but its not just the kids it is adults to. Never really the same people neither, just an amalgamation of continued noise. As I have mentioned before though it has got worse and that is where the complaint is that it is virtually every night, surely no resident where ever they live should have to put up with that?
Lastly, lots of faceless people making comments, even on our local radio station with anonymous texts etc, makes you realise as nice as the island is to live some people just don’t give a damn about others. Hardly balanced views.
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I dont think Alderney is worse than London but we certainly do have a problem. There are far too many drunk, very young people out on the streets at all hours of the night. Alderney is classed as a “safe” place for our children to grow up, but this does not give parents the right to shirk their parental responsibilities! Some of these parents aid their children by buying them alcohol then let them stay out all night. These kids have no respect for anybody!!! But, I blame the parents!!
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I can sympathize with Mr Harding who is running a buissness in Victoria Street and has been for sometime but as for Mrs Arditti why buy a house in town surely you must have expected noise especially this time of year. I do think that maybe more night patrols by the local police my be of an advantage & curb the problem. The one thing that annoys me the most is the headline. Mr Varley surely you can’t believe that. I know it’s a quote but you could have used a differnet quote as this is very misleading and hardly good press for Alderney.
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If you live in Victoria St then you have to take the noise – it is a main street and does have lots of people in it at all times. It is also very convenient to live there as well cos you are near the shops, bars and restaurants.
I agree about the drinking from open containers and not being pulled up by the police I saw lots of that last week whilst some of the police were up on the Butes enjoying themselves chatting and laughting with people. Presumably this is so that they can start to “understand” the local youth – as thats all the police seem to talk about in the local press releases!!!! Arrest the miscreants and get them put into the cage that is reminiscent of Guantanomo Bay at the back of the States Building. A night in there in the cold might do them some good!!!!
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This very unwelcome criticism about our ‘paradise island’ from these disgruntled incomers is really great publicity for our struggling tourism trade. Just what our local hoteliers, caterers and retailers needed at this time when they are all working so hard to break even during this unfortunate finacial climate.
All the fantastic media coverage we have recived over Alderney Week has just been overshadowed by this daming report.
Thank you very much…
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Move back to London then! Cheerie!!
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As many have said, if you don’t like it move back to where you came from.. simple as.
Have they not realised it’s been Alderney Week either?
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I moved into the center of town 12 months ago. My car was vandalised so much it was taken off the road. I have people knocking on my door at 2 am, using my wall as a toilet etc, etc. The police are only on duty for a matter of minutes after closing time and can’t be everywhere at once but i do think pub staff should encourage people to move on as it doesnt look good for them when the outside of their building is a mess with cigarette butts, broken glass and vomit etc. Having said all that last night was the first really noisey night since Easter and all was quite by 2am. Living in town is by choice there are buildings elsewhere on the island!
As always it’s the few not the many that cause problems and we shoudl be able to deal with them without the bigger island looking down on us, Guernsey has far bigger problems than we do!
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Well Mr Arditti – it is the likes of you who have come to our beautiful island and think that you can take over – Alderney WEEK (sometimes it may last longer) will happen every year, so put up and shut up or get out.
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I do agree that over here there does seem to be a lot of youngsters out drinking and on the streets till the early hours – but is that really any different whatsoever to Guernsey and Jersey even, let alone London!
To come out with a mis-leading headline like this is quite frankly ridiculous and as someone has pointed out, a quick read of the headlines from London over the weekend has shown things to be much, much worse indeed.
In fact, in terms of actual trouble, I dont remember seeing or even hearing about any fights that happened anywhere throughout Alderney Week…and I would be very interested to see how many assault arrests were made in Guernsey over the same period.
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I stayed in the Huret for five nights recently. Two were disturbed at 1.30 am by people shreiking like banshees in the street. I pay to come to Alderney for peace and quiet. I will think twice about returning. Don’t these people realise that they are putting their and their parent’s livlihood in peril?
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I agree that the headline is OTT and not good for the image Alderney Tourism is trying to portray. However, it does seem that the noise and behaviour that goes on from 1am most nights in the height of the season is getting worse. And it is not just confined to Victoria Street. When we lived on the outskirts of town, almost every night in the summer we were disturbed by people screaming, shouting, swearing in the road when the pubs kicked out at 1am, then again at 3 or 4am when the parties kick out. Nobody wants to stop anyone from having fun, but I wish these partygoers would spare some thoughts for those of us who live and work on the Island, who have to get up for work in the morning. I wonder if the 1am pub closing time should be reviewed?
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I am some what shocked a suprised to be reading such an artical as this.
If I am right in thinking Mr Arditti lives in the large house opposite the Albert House Pub, did he carry out any checks to find out what the noise levels were like before buying such a substantual and expensive property as this?
I think if you ask anybody who lives opposite a pub, they will say that at closing time it is noisy, what would you expect?
I have been in the street and seen the “Massed Hords” of people, who are talking, not fighting, swearing, vomiting, but talking. Is this so wrong. NO it is not, carry out a check of the area next time you buy a property Mr Arditti and the next time you might not be so shocked!!!
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Alderney is unique…. it doesn’t need people like the named in the article…. leave it alone and go go go home!!!!!!!
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Worse than London. Hmmm, a bit of perspective, please! What utter nonsense!
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I would think after reading some of the posts on here how they would even consider living in Alderney for another day. there seems to be a real problem with the noise as posted from other residents. But all this guy gets is his marching orders just because he`s not local. So do some of you feel this couple has no right to speak out about this? I think the attitude from some on here is doing more damage to the island than this guys concerns being made public. Sort out the problem (if there is one) instead of telling people to clear off.
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An interesting debate but from what I can gather Victoria St at pub chucking out time has similar problems to any small town or village in mainland UK with noise. What I don’t see in Alderney is the shear level of menace and violence that one sees on any Saturday night in provincial England.
I wouldn’t buy a house in the High St of any part of the UK and not expect some disturbed nights, especially in the height of the holiday season or on Carnival night. It goes with the territory I’m afraid.
Is it the same in mid November? I doubt it.
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Oh Come-on……
The noise in town started LONG before Mr Harding and Mr Arditti moved to Alderney.
Clearly, if you’re noise sensitive DON’T buy a house on the busiest street on the island….there are plenty of other houses you could move to on the islands and there is a great little airport and harbour from which you could always leave from!
How can these people compare Alderney to London? Where is the constant traffic, the knives, the guns, the gangs, the constant sirens, the old ladies being murdered for their weeks pension.
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The comment describing Alderney as worse than London is complete nonsense, but the problem of noise in the early hours of the morning is very real and is not only confined to Victoria Street,but also High Street, Le Huret, Marais Square and beyond.
I have witnessed the unsocial behaviour first hand and so know for a fact that the people responsible are in the most teenagers, local and tourists a like.
The problem is that these idiots do not have work the next day, tend to sleep untill the afternoon and basically think I’m on holiday and not working so sod everyone else, prats.
As for the people on here condoning this behaviour are either involved in it, live in a quiet part of the Island or are completly stupid.
Rather than the complainants moving off Island, If you like to parade around the streets in the early hours of the morning shouting and screaming then maybe you should move and see how long you will get away with it on the mainland, my guess is not for long.
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Totally agree with the comments regards James Varley. I have taken him to task in his office yesterday whereby he tried deny any responsibilty when in fact he never reported the balanced views I gave him. It is pure UK journalism that doesn’t belong here.
‘Newsislander’……..another shirker hiding behind an assumed name and can’t face the responsibitlites of his/hers comments. As I have said I expect to be awake some of the nights, goes with the territory where we are, however not every night. How would you like someone to urinate outside your house between 1 and 4 in the morning?
‘GG’………not taking on board the comments are you, just reading what you want? This is been going on for sometime time and not a knee jerk reaction to Alderney Week, unfortunately it has reached a peak at this time which is a shame. Its been going on for a while and the period where the noise got worse was end of June runing well in to July before the school holidays etc. It is locals, and it is adults in the main but different ones each time. This sort of thing has become common place and as I said, and has been stated by another the worse time is between 1am and 4am………why would you think that this is acceptable? For this reason I do not blame the pubs neither, at the end of the day it is the individuals doing it that should look at themselves and take responsibility.
Flyboy….hiding behind an assumed name and making silly comments, if you have the intelligence to read the above comments you will see where I am coming from surely. Welcome to come in the shop anytime to discuss and that applies to anyone that has a problem with my comments but confuse my issue with the London/Alderney theme that Varley has portrayed. Have to say got a good nights kip last night, Happy Days.
Dave…..sensible comments by someone prepared to out his name to it and it nails it.
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I think the problem is………. with this article is the misleading headline – it is just sensationalism !!.
Alderney is a unique place in so many ways and is has a very strong sense of community. Think of the way we raise money for such things as a community bus, sick local children, MND with local men as strippers, bonus ball tickets on sale in the pubs raise thousands of pounds for many local clubs and youth projects . I could go on and on as on the whole Alderney is a great place to live and a fabulous place to visit.
IT IS noisey in Victoria Street especially at this time of year – I know as I have lived on this street myself but……….. to compare it to London is wholly inaccurate and very, very unfair.
I would like to see “Team Alderney” as our local Police do insisit on calling themselves be out on duty between the suggested noise increase and anti social behaviour times of 1am to 4am and perhaps instead of driving around in their cars or motorbikes a patrol on foot would seem more approaiate and practical solution to a problem that is bothering the residents of Victoria Street.
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Nobody is condoning this behaviour. Perhaps if the islands police read these posts they could actively do something about this situation. What other calls have they on their time at pub closing time?
The crux of the matter here is that the Ardittis have had an article written by James Varley that directly affects the prosperity and visitor appeal of this island. I dont think the people I see on the streets in the summer are particularly young people – this is an island that attracts older people – walkers, twitchers etc on holiday and in the main responsible adults. The people that are making all this noise are here all the
young kids that are allowed to be out drinking and making a noise. Perhaps parents should try to take control of their kids or are they in the pub as well?
I have seen lots of people in the day that are not young not in control of their bodies or their mouths. At night they are even worse cos theyve been drinking all day!!!!
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I used to get that happening all the time when I lived in the UK in a popular commuter town and a seaside village, and I didnt even live in the main street. Thats why I left there. If you lived in France it would happen in the day as well as in the night.
As to hiding behind an assumed name I thought that was normal for Alderney.
I do think that buying a house situated on a triangle of the Chez, Albert House, and the Georgian is a bit silly if you dont expect noise!
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I can understand people’s viewpoints on the matter and of course with this time of celebration comes an increase in the levels of noise but it can’t all be attributed to local teenagers OR adults as it is surely a combination of the two and then you also have to consider the tourists who come into the island and treat Alderney the same as the UK.
I’ve been to London a few times and to claim that Alderney is WORSE than London is just blowing the matter out of proportion. If you live in town then you have to expect noise as we have 8 pubs all within a 10 minute walk distance of each other and if teenagers are bored and are still out then they’ll go to meet friends who are older and have just come out of the pubs. They treat kick-out as a social event to catch up on daily events and although this creates noise it avoids violence as people prefer to have a friendly chat instead.
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Having lived in QE2 street, I always found the bell ringing that continued for hours at the town church far more offensive than the occasional crowd of drunken revellers………….
Karen
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The London comparison is amusing however things are changing everywhere for the worse.
Policing has to be firm and neighbourhood watch employed so that fools can be filmed or arrested for being antisocial.
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@Mark Harding
Sorry, I was just referring to Arditti. I would imagine it would be disgusting for somebody to urinate on your doorway.
I’ve stayed in Alderney at the end of August a few years ago, although I was a bit further away from the main street and I never noticed any noise. But if you were to purchase a property on the island, you would check out the place first, right? And it is entirely your own fault for purchasing the property if you didn’t stay a week or so along the same street.
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Newislander……..Thats my point….I DO expect noise but not at recent levels whereby it becomes anti social most nights.
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I live part-time in central London and part-time in Guernsey.
The problems are just different and not really comparable.
I actually feel safer walking back from Liverpool Street Station to my home near Brick Lane at 2am than I do walking home from town late at night, because in Guernsey we don’t have street lights past 12pm!
And whilst there are more muggings, stabbings etc in London, that’s because a huge amount more people live there. 8 million compared with 60,000 – come on, of course there’s more fights in the capital.
But I know several people in Guernsey who’ve been attacked (sometimes brutally) by strangers, whereas not one of my London acquaintances has ever (to my knowledge) been assaulted there. The problem is more likely to be pickpocketing or non-violent mugging.
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I don’t think the noise in victoria street is anything compared to the noise of the airport. I think they should get rid of those noisey trislanders and use gliders instead OR build the airport out to sea. Nobody told me that living at the end of a runway would be so noisey.
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this is a par.
what planet is this guy on?
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This problem is not just confined to Alderney, turn on any real life police docu-soap on Sky and you’ll see the same behaviour replicated across the UK.
In Guernsey the Police are all over the pubs and clubs at kick-out time, however, all they are doing is dispersing the problem to the surrounding residential areas. Hauteville, Les Canichers, Mill Street – they all cop the fall out from what is essentially an alcohol and social problem.
I live in the Canichers and every Friday and Saturday from between 10pm – 3am is disturbed by shrieking, screaming, shouting, singing, youths attacking property and cars, people vomiting, people urinating (& the other) and other, smashing bottles in the street, entering gardens and taking things for ‘laffs’ and other such stupid and mindless activities.
When you have night after night of broken sleep and worry about your property being vandalised enough is enough.
I would love to petition the Constables and The Police to either instal CCTV in our area so people can be prosecuted for their actions or install a gate at the end of the road which is closed at 10pm, forcing people to walk along the seafront and not cutting through Les Canichers.
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@Ellie. How does a ‘non-violent mugging’ work?
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The only way to stop this noise and rowdyism then is for all the pubs on the island to be compulsorily purchased and closed down!!!!!! CCTV installed all the way up Victoria St at 50 yard intervals. The police force to be increased to at least lets say 20 so that they can be patrolling the island day and night. Parents forced to attend classes on how to control their children as soon as the said children reach 3 years of age. As well as that everyone has to have an alcoholics licence that drinks alcohol, like they do in some states in India.
I understand that it is noisy in the town centre but only in a few cases is there violence or vandalism involved. As I have said before and its terribly un PC of me to say it – a spell overnight in the Guantanomo Bay cages at the back of the States building in QE2 street would not go amiss. The occupants could fight out their annoying behaviour between themselves in there.
I thought that when this new Youth Worker was brought in at great cost to the Island that all this “Ive got nothing to do culture” would stop – it would appear that it is alive and well on the island as I still hear kids saying it!!!!
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If you think Alderney is bad, i will suggest you go into town on a Friday and saturday night at 11.00pm to 3.00am.
This will open your eyes, and if you wait around until 6.00am, and see the mess to be cleared up by the States workers stand by for a shock.
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Forget the noise??
How about the police sorting out the IDIOTS that drive around day and night with their music loud and speeding.
I take it we have to wait for someone to get knocked down before they act
Oh forgot that happened and they still got away with it? and still drive around the island like IDIOTS
Will the team Alderney do any thing NO?? need people to come in and complain
What happened to proper policing??
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Why do some ppl move here from England and want to change this lovely island?
It is common knowledge that the complaints from the persons living opposite one of the most lively pubs on Alderney, tried to buy it with a view to closing it down! Surely they could see what they were going to live next to before they bought! (If they think it’s noisy now, wait till the smoking ban!, everyone will be on the streets during normal hours then!)
So why buy there and not elsewhere as it would surely have been quieter?
If they are here then they as everyone here…Loves Alderney for what it is….not happy with that they go running to the press, running us down and dragging Alderney down with them, local buisnesses depend on visitors as income, Mark harding and Dave Thomas are a couple of very hard working and well respected buisness men here on Alderney, tourism is key for us Islanders, so yes, there is a problem, but to drag it into the press crying like a child about it is very English!! and very wrong for this Island.
If you dont like it….then leave….move house (but you have messed up selling yours now in town cos you highlighted a problem lol)
OR!! Lets do something about it, everyone slinging mud and putting the blame on everyone else is letting off steam..ok good for a while but then what? The police! well we dont want to go down that route really, or we will be labelled a poilice state, (not the fault of the police, I think they do a very good job in a small community) (although that traffic warden should do his job and potrol the streets like what we all pay him to do!)
The way forward as i see it is a coming together of A states commitee, Chamber of commerce, Police, local buisnesses affected and the landlords of the bars/pubs. All sit around the same table and well openly talk about the way ahead, find out what the real problems are! public debate in the island hall is a good way to start, LET everyone have their say at a public meeting, and some person or group take the responsability to listen to the comments/views of local ppl, even those newcomers lol, but we must start this way and we must be strong together as a community to take control of our streets.
Summer is nearly over, so we all have a duty to ourselves, the visitors to this Island, for our Children and our childrens children, to try to resolve these issues before the next holiday season is upon us???
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Surely the States committee suggested above is the members of the “States” . I thought the States meetings were public meetings and the group that should be taking responsibility is them, the States members!!!!! How do you suggest that the members of the public – newcomers or forever residents (who pay rates etc the same as everyone else incidentally) become strong as a community. Isnt that what the Police are for, or are they too busy writing letters to parents about their naughty children. The person writing these letters must be in full time employment if thats the case.
This report to the Guernsey Press should never have been published. I hear that the Ardittis are forming an action group. Good luck to them after what they have done – as you say running to the newspaper with their “story”.
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In response to the crasse comments of “New islander”, see what i mean! Someone new here wants to change us locals and our island.
All they can think of is to run down a very hard working and caring youth worker, who by the way took a large pay cut to come to Alderney and she is payed alot less than her Guernsey collueges doing less work!!
A poilice state…..New islander has described exactly what that would be like, so why don’t you leave Alderney!!, it is your sort we locals cant abide.
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I think ‘Local as you can get’ has a good point. If 2,500 people clinging to a rock can’t have a sensible debate about a local issue then there is clearly something amiss.
In all honesty there is little that needs to be done. Probably not much can be achieve with modifying the behaviour of visitors but all that is required is for locals to show a little consideration late at night. Talk at a sensible pitch, have a pee before you leave the pub etc.. And the residents of Victoria St need to understand they have to tollerate the presence of others in the streets around them from time to time.
What I hope is not required is a raft of legislation, official efforts at social engineering and an OTT police crack down. That what happens in the UK but do 2,500 people need a nanny state?
As for newislander’s suggestion of bang up in the clink for miscreants – you must really miss the UK mate? I’d rather see the Rozzers having a quiet word and sending people to trott off home and sleep it off. That’s a nice, grown up and civilised approach and one that I’d prefer to see. We were all young once……
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Goodness me “local as you get” !!!
Dont you understand irony? What I am describing about 20 or so police etc is what would have to happen to get complete silence in the streets and no social life. Try and chill out and get a life!
Change the island I dont think I would want that but all this’ get out you new people’ does you no credit. I have been coming to this island since the early 1980s. I have actually lived here for quite a while now as well. This island is a place where people want to come and live and holiday and it is not attractive to see drunkeness and vandalism.
As to the new Youth Worker – her brief was to stop all this youth problem and I cannot see that the problems have stopped at all. I dont care that she took a pay cut to come here – she has the advantage of living here to compensate for that!!!!!
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what an exaggeration. ridiculous people.
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@Doug
One where no-one gets hurt. Not all muggers pull a knife, innit. Some just ask for your stuff and rely on your pant-wetting Londoner sense of fear to hand over the goods.
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Well I trained as a Nurse in London and if I did a night a Mayday Hosp and forgot a sandwich I did without.People disappeared in the area if they stopped at shop.
Working in Guernsey I enjoyed visits to the Beautifull Island of Alderney.The old couple who told me of living in my native Scotland during the war.Dougle and the mighty Alderney Colt who beat my Board of Health Football team to lift the first health cup.Missing a sitter while playing for Port City there.Ah Alderney
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Sorry Ellie, but violence whether real or implied is the same. I’m sure you feel the same sense of far at the time and violation afterwards. Therefore I don’t think there can be such a thing as a totally non-violent mugging, Innit?
In a similar vein though. I did know a guy from ‘Sarff London’ who did a 7 stretch for a series of thefts from building societies in the 90′s. Normally you’d expect a minimum of 15 years but he never used a weapon, never implied the use of a weapon and never pointed anything at anyone (CCTV worked in his favour). He simply made a lot of noise and handed over a carrier bag. The judge was slightly vexed and apparently deferred sentence for a few weeks in order to mull it over. However, I’m sure the branch staff and customers were in fear so this can still be regarded as a violent event.
The guy concerned was actually quite a nice chap and now does a lot of work with getting kids away from crime.
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My son & I enjoyed a family night out at the cinema last night & had to walk past 5 pubs on the way home. 2 of which were shut & the other three had only half a dozen people in them between the lot of them. Alderney appears to have gone back to its beautiful tranquil self. So I hope that all the residents in the street enjoyed a good nights sleep & we can all be our welcoming happy selves to the few visitors that are left on the island now. Please remember you get more with honey than vinegar. Last year some children built a den at the wild end of my land. I took them down some juice & biscuits . They were polite & friendly & they still say hello to me a year on.
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