Neighbours’ garden fall out
Saturday 30th July 2011, 11:30AM BST.
Claire Ellis is finding it a struggle to keep her garden tidy.
NEIGHBOURS at La Vrangue Estate have fallen out over the state of one of the gardens.
Mike Ogier, 65, who has lived there for 30 years, is proud of his. But he is annoyed that neighbour Claire Ellis has allowed hers to become scruffy since moving in last year.
He said her patch had become an overgrown mass of weeds, with bindweed growing over old bicycles, bin bags of rubbish and an old mattress slumped outside the front door.
Ms Ellis lives with her 12-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter. She wanted a small garden for her children, but agreed hers was too much for her to handle. She said the States needed to do more to help with gardening and rubbish collection.
‘If I get help I can do it,’ she said. ‘I do work on it, but it just grows back.’
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Helping with ruibbish collection yes, but gardening no.
With two children and yourself it does not take much time to do a little gardening.
You do no need anything more then your hands and something to cut the grass, even a push mower requiring no electricity cut grass really well. Give something for your children to earn their pocket money if they get some.
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I dont think i have heard such a load of old rubbish in my life! why do the states have anything to do with the fact you decide not to have pride in your surroundings, and there for affect others arround you, its not an acrea for gods sake!
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Lazy woman.
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Ms Ellis perhaps should consider making a pile of rubbish and getting a bit more creative with her garden….Why rely on the States – get off your behind and do something about it – take pride in the space you have.
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Do it yourself or ask to move somewhere with a patio garden.
The other rubbish can be collected ,there is a very good service that will collect it at a small price..probably the cost of a few drinks on a night out! If you cannot afford it .Asked you kind neighbour ,who is moaning to take it to the tip for you.
There are many states houses that are a disgrace About time the housing department reread the tenancy agreement and activated the rules they made!
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Wants the States to do more? Don’t make me laugh. Stop watching the telly dear and get YOUR backside into gear.
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Presumably the money she should have spent on maintaining the garden was spent on the flatscreen TV as per the box in the picture.
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She can manage to get her rubbish to a place where it is not under her feet but visible to offend her neighbours though.
Her neighbours have the time to complain to the media. In much less time the offending rubbish could easily have been recycled and burnt. That would be all too easy for these people
Maybe the taxpayers should pay for a chef, a chauffeur and a housekeeper to keep things running more smoothly for her.
Maybe some readers will make themselves heard here?
This is all too common nowadays. The more one helps others the more helpless and reliant they become.
She gets no sympathy from me.
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Why has this private dispute reached the pages of the Guernsey Press? This should be sorted out between the parties involved – and the Housing Department if necessary.
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PLP, I think its largely because its a thin news week, even for Guernsey. But there is a degree of public interest involved since it is almost certainly taxpayers who will end up paying to clean up this lady’s mess whilst she sits on her backside enjoying her new TV.
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Perhaps Dave Jones could send a digger round.
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…when I lived in Guernsey we had a neighbour who grew very fine vegetables and used to offer us the prime of his crop….I should have complained to the Press that he was being too kind and possibly trying to ingratiate himself to win over friends…when will this Guernsey parochial small headless stuff ever stop being reported…
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Surely it`s none of our business how the neighbour`s garden looks. That`s their problem, not ours.
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vic gamble
No doubt these small filler stories will stop when the next murder/rape/air crash/multiple car pile up/terror alert/guns in school/boating accident/earthquake/Environment balls-up happens
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Just look at the lively response this story has prompted! This is the kind of story that makes reading the Press worthwhile.
Ms Ellis might try enrolling with Guernsey Dinner Dating, stipulating any prospective suitor to be of a horticultural bent.
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what a good laugh this story gave me
she wants a states paid gardener to do it for her and whats even more funny is she will probably get one .
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The environment can`t afford to keep the grass banks near the aquarium in a mown state so why should they be able to mow her garden?
The pool area is crammed packed with visitors and locals alike during this hot weather and the area looks like a jungle. There is also a rockfall that has been surrounded by steel barriers for over two years now, you`d have thought that the States would have had that cleared by the firm doing the rockface further along the road while they had the equipment there.
Do these departments ever talk to each other?
As for Ms Ellis, it`s about time she got off her bottom and got on with sorting her garden out.
The Housing Authority know about this now and should issue her with a notice informing her that if it is not cleared in one month then she will be turfed out. I bet the garden will be cleared then.
Come on Housing, use the powers you have and show your tenants that you mean what is in your rental agreements. GET SOME BALLS.
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What we need to do is to make sure the next generation get educated at what is expected of them as a responsibility.
I am sick of a generation who think the island owes them something.
I am so glad there are a few who do what they can to help themselves perhaps the other can take a leave out of their book.
Get out and keep yourself and do what ever you can to help keep the island special.
There are many older folks who are disabled who struggled to cope with their own gardens
they find a way to do it ,even if it is a bit each day
Sitting on your butt does not get it done
perhaps horticulture should be brought back in to the senior school again.as i know the primary school have an active clubs for this.
make sure they have pride in themselves and in their surroundings.
And as for the states having to pay for this ,that is a disgrace and the man who complained should also be ashamed picking on a young mum. If she had a partner there would he be so quick to pick on her then?
His own garden is not that much of a paradise as having walked passed there many times it had rubbish in the corner and brambles overgrowing onto the pavement .
All I could see was a grass area that was cut .
this was last year so perhaps he has now removed it all .
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She should consider herself lucky to have a garden, and get herself off her backside and clear it. If States Tenants don’t look after their gardens then put them in a flat!
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to start off with i have lived at my place for almost 4 years not 1 just shows how much the neighbour pays attention and falling out? he not said one word to me about my garden and what i was trying to say is if there was somewhere where single mothers or even the old people could put there old bits like tables or bits on the estate then it would help i dont drive and have no way to move them or not alot of money to get them moved and someone commented about my new telly well i got that bout a month ago on my key i pay 5 pound a week and thats the first ever flat screen i have had after having my old telly for 9 years i know some people that has 3 or 4 in there house and i not the only one that has rubbish in there garden either in states houses if i had a shed i would buy tools to do the garden i did have a lawn mower but it got ruined as i have no shed and no money at the mo to get one seems like i am getting put down when its not only me that has a garden on this island like mine
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Claire,
1) Do you not have any friends that have a car, I am sure most friends would be happy to help a friend in need.
2) Why should the States pay to take away YOUR rubbish?
3) Nobody forced you to speak to the Press, had you not wanted to appear you should have told them where to go.
4) You already have a subsidy on housing costs as you have a States house, surely this is enough money taken off the tax payer?
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That would be the worse thing to do is to have a collecting place for rubbish the place would be a tip and it would attract rubbish from all over the island .
Fill in the form .you can have up to 5 items for 15 pounds .it will be collected from you.this will get rid of it
I also don’t drive but this is how i get rid of it all
save up for it
As for a shed when those homes where built they had a shed included in the house as you walk into the back door .has this changed now?
It would not take up much room to have a mower as they do pack up.others manage to have them and they don’t have another shed .Perhaps the neighbour who complained would lend you his mower?
I also agree there are many more who have a garden like a tip.this man is picking on you.
It is not only single mums and old folks who have problem getting rid of rubbish many of us do.
please use the system properly.it is there to help you .at a small cost as well
The cardboard can be recycled .get the children to rip it into a smaller piece and put into a bag and walk down the road to the recycle at the Salerie .
Try your best Claire .
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You’re right about the overgrown area by the Aquarium nocon. I was there on Saturday and it’s a total disgrace. Perhaps the SPP constables should do something useful and put pressure on Environment to sort it out.
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Ms Ellis, it seems to be a question of priorities. You feel you can afford a flatscreen TV which only your family will see, you can’t afford to keep your garden clear which everybody has to see. You managed to get the Box with a TV in to your house but you can’t remove the empty box properly. You’re not really trying very hard are you? As for not having any money, don’t buy expensive consumer goods then. If your old TV stopped working (which I doubt) there are many people giving away working televisions free of charge on ecycle and elsewhere. I recently gave away a perfectly good TV which was 12 years old but worked fine. I replaced it with a flat screen TV with money I have earned and saved. I would not dream of buying one on credit and then dumping the box outside for the neighbours (or burglars) to see, that would be just plain irresponsible and un-neighbourly.
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Ignorant, lazy woman – do it yourself like everyone else has to; The States don’t owe you a gardener. Absolutely ludicrous, but then again I’m all too familiar with this attitude amongst certain people in Guernsey (and indeed, the world).
LOL – ‘I do work on it, but it just grows back.’
That’s how plants work m’dear. :)
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Claire, did you know that punctuation is free and makes you look clever?
I bet you could get a shed from B&Q for £5 a month on credit. Or maybe your neighbour would let you use his tools. Try asking him.
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Martino..re Aquarium..this piece is being looked at.
Yes I know it has been like this for years but we are talking bout environment in Guernsey
they need to make safe the rock face and will not cut this bit of grass so as not to encourage people to sit there as it could be dangerous .
[this is what I was told ]
but if it is growing wild it can be classed as a conversation area and will attract the bees and butterfly’s
Perhaps the Guernsey press might like to investigate this as a story ,as it would make better headline than this girl who has rubbish and weeds in her garden .That a neighbour has a problem with.
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At the risk of getting a telling off here, could I suggest that Mr Ogier perhaps gave her some small amount of help in lending her some equipment so that she could do it herself, and maybe showing her what to do? Result being 2 tidy gardens, happy and helpful neighbours and no need for the press to bore us with this drivel
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I think that Ms Ellis’s neighbour’s “outrage” is a bit rich, bearing in mind some of the things he has done in the past, which are far, far worse than having an untidy garden!!
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Claire,
Have you thouight about doing a deal with a neighbour, where they help you with your garden and you help them with some interior painting or cook them a meal?
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The states need to do more to help!
My husband is working two jobs and I am working part time to pay the mortgage and look after 3 children. We struggle to keep our garden tidy as we just don’t have the time. Why should we be working all these hours to pay for the states to clean her garden! This Island is becoming a joke.
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Maybe you could run a little allotment for growing a few veg with the children
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she cant do anything at the min as she is in England would like to know where she got her money from i live in a states house an cant afford to take my children away makes me sick these people who do nothing but can afford to go away on holiday we are lucky to have money at the end of the week
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Can I just say what a load of rubbish. I work everyday and five days a week. When I get home I cook tea and do luches for the next day etc. I have two gardens and in the evenings and weekends I am outside pulling up the weeds and keeping it tidy. The evenings are long why not when the kids are inside or in bed go out and tidy up. There is not need for rubish or black sacks to be dumped in the garden. Can’t you burn some of your rubish or get someone to take it to the tip. Or like others are saying get the kids to do it for extra pocket money. Come on dont moan about it.I
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Well I wish I had a garden that was a decent enough size to do something with! These people don’t realise how much they are GIVEN!
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I too wish I had a garden. I tell you what, if I did have one I would take pride in keeping it tidy even though I work full time and can’t drive.
Claire Ellis – YOU wanted the garden YOU look after it.
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@Claire
If people that work all hours (like Sarah, myself and a lot of other people on here)can manage to keep their gardens tidy, what is your excuse. Do you really think that it is up to us to pay for that as well. Like Amanda has said, aren’t you given enough already!
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There was a gentleman who lived in a States House at L`Aumone traffic lights who used to regularly win the Gardens in Bloom prize every year because he was proud of his garden.
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Phil
Spot on.
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i happen to know this ldy i got 3 kids (soon anyway) and i struggle with all my other commitments to keep grass cut all the time i do try but sumthimes other stuff takes priority i bet all these negative comments they have sumthing they have ment to do for ages but have put it off time and time again?????
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Philip,
Yes but just leaving large amounts of rubbish lying around is not really excuseable is it? She does not live that far from a recycling point so cardboard etc. does not have far to travel. Yes we all lead busy lives, but most would make sure things that affect others are done first.
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@Philip
Yes that is very true but I wouldn’t expect the States to come and sort out my mess
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Claire, please use punctuation.
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i rent a house from the states. i’m a divorced single parent, i work full time have 3 children and have 2 gardens to maintain- a smaller one at the front and a larger one at the rear. i feel lucky to have access to gardens and i manage to mow my lawns quite easily with an electric mower purchased from B & Q for around £55.00 and cut my hedges with a pair of secateurs i also have a nice flower border i dug out in the front garden and pots with flowers grown from seeds which do not cost much arranged around my front door. i find time to recycle during my annual leave and recently had 5 items of old furniture removed by bulk refuse for £15.00 these only had to go out into the garden for one evening as they advise you when they will collect. People must change their attitude and realise that you have to sort out your own problems/mess, take pride in your surroundings and not expect other people to do everything for you in life.
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Suprised you people in Guernsey,have not cottoned on to the English craze.Wait till after dark,then fly tip the Rubbish.Problem solved.
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If Claire could get Ground Force with Charlie Dimmock along she’d find all the blokes in the estate queueing to join in.
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I’m an ex-pat having left the Island over twenty years ago. I used to live in a states house in ST. Martins and no garden ever looked like that. But the thing that disturbs me the most here, is the lack of punctuation and grammar. Has the education system gone down hill so badly in the last twenty years? By the way, to blame your situation on being a single mother is an insult to all other single parents holding down a job, and keeping their own personal environment clean and tidy.
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Peter. Sorry we’re donkeys not sheep. It wasn’t you that put it there in the first place, was it?
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Claire
Ignore all the negative comments, me and my husband would happily come and help you sort out your garden I have a big car so could take some of the rubbish to the tip and we can bring our tools – once it is sorted it should be easier to maintain.
To the rest of you being a single mum is not easy and rather than wasting your time sniping on here why not offer to help for 15minutes if all of you did that the job would be done!!
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Take action
We’re already helping. We go to work and put money into the tax coffers for her to spend on things like her tv and the computer she used for posting on here.
“Can’t cope”? Utter drivel. Take a leaf out of Tina’s book Ms Ellis.
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The States should make it compulsory that all tenants of States property keep the gardens clear of rubbish and, keep all lawns and flower beds tidy.
If not: move them to a flat.
I’m sure there are plenty of people looking for a states house with a nice size garden.
Why does she not get her 12 and 8 year old kids to help her tidy the garden?……..To lazy thats why.
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I work full time too and run a busy house but you should not be so quick to judge – none of us are perfect we all have floors which we need help with.
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Yes I am sure that being a single mother is extremely hard and I don’t think anyone on here is disputing that. But what does she do whilst the two children are at school all week. I am sure that she has a lot more spare time than most people.
It was her comment that the States should do more to help her that riled me. They put a roof over her head and she doesn’t have to work, surely she can manage a bit of weeding!
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I have floors but I can manage them myself even though I work 50+ hours a week….
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Take Action
It’s very honourable of you to offer to help with somebody else’s garden when you admit that your own floors need sorting out, that is what you meant isn’t it?
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Take action
Thought it was the lawn, not her floors, that Ms E was struggling with.
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Next door neighbours are not all perfect in private clos either
Before I went on holiday last year my sloppy elderly neighbour had left his milk and papers out on the doorstep for over a week
Luckily when I returned a fortnight later the house was empty and up for sale
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Gsygooner
I do have floors I think anyone who says they don’t is lying and yes I do ask for help when I need it, which I think is what this lady is also doing.
Cheesed off
Good for you that you have your life in perfect order and never need any help. I work 65 hours on a good week and I am more than happy to give up a couple of hours on a Saturday to help someone else. That is what Guernsey used to be about now everyone is too caught up their own lives to think about anybody else. I think it is really sad and if more people helped each other it would be a much better place. People are not all perfect and some do not do live their lives how society wants them too. But surely they should be helped not condemned?
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Lisa
I think the answer to your question is “eat”.
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@ Take Action
I never said my life was in perfect order. I do however manage to do what I can as well as working. I certainly wouldn’t expect to rent a property with a garden and then expect someone else to do all the hard work whilst sitting on my backside unless I was paying for the work myself.
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@ Take Action
Do you mean flaws? not floors surely…
I am a single mum, 2 children and work, I actually find it relaxing to spend time in my garden, painting my fences, weeding, planting new seeds, nothing better after a busy day at work, than sitting in a pretty garden after work on a summers evening. Oh and i do live in a States House!!!
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I do hope people realise that “Take Action” meant flaws not floors and were having a bit of fun.
Anyway, @ Take Action.
Firstly, part of this thread sounds like the Four Yorkshiremen. You’ve now upped the ante to 65 hours a week and still find time to help people etc.
Well, I get up half an hour before I go to bed, work 34 hours a day down’t pit etc etc.
Seriously though, you refer to helping people who choose not to live how society wants them to.
But that’s the whole definition of a society. A group of people who live and work together, where those who need help are given it. The thing is here, is that there’s nothing to show that this lady NEEDS help, just that she WANTS help. A big difference!
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I also have floors – two, in fact. A ground floor and a first floor. I also have many flaws, one being the inability to ignore the misuse of words.
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Its people like Miss Ellis that give a bad impression of states house people. Its not difficult is it to take care of your surroundings. Why should the stgates supply you with everything, they have supplied you with a house the least that you can do is have some pride in it. Makes me wander what the inside of the house is like. This woman is just a lazy excuse.
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So, this lady has a 12 year old and an 8 year old which I presume and hope are in full time education. Which means she should be able to work and either pay for a gardener or do it in her spare time like the rest of us have to.
Why should the states clear rubbish, go to Recycle or take it to the tip yourself for a couple of quid. Nobody takes my rubbish for free.
If you don’t work Miss Ellis which is more likely the case, you have all the time in the world to work on your garden!
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I too have a ground floor and a first floor,I also have a second floor but thats another storey!
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Take Action –
Where do you work for 65 hours? Otherwise I call BS on that….
methinks -
I thought Miss Ellis was fairly typical of states house tenants?
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Sanguine
I work 40hours a week as an accountant and 5 hours a night (5 nights) in a care home
Everyone else who has attcked me for my spelling I am dyslexic and struggle with it everyday
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I am a states house tenant myself .my husband and I both have disabilities ,but we look after our garden and have won gold awards over the years for it.
Also first prizes for the island and shows
there are many beautiful rubbish free gardens on many housing estates
it is the few who spoil it for us.
I would like the housing department to get tough on these folks who are a disgrace .it is a few who let us down
Mrs Ellis garden is not as bad as others i see .
Wake up Housing and stick to the tenancy agreement rules .
Dont tar all states tenants with the same brush .
We see many in the private sector who also had rubbish in their gardens as well.
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Think what is needed is a Rolling Rubbish Collection Service.Maybe this could be organized by Residents with help from the states.A charge of say a £2 donation per user to cover the Cost.This would take Cars of the Road,help with recycling,and get back what seems to me what is lacking in Guernsey COMMUNITY SPIRIT.You never know when you may need help,and making remarks about others less fortunate,on the INTERNET under a pseudonym shows you lack Compassion.
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Take Action – serious BS there!
I know enough accountants to know that you cannot fulfill a real accountancy position and have a second job.
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Take Action
If you are an accountant with dyslectic problems you do well
I also have that problem and do my numbers back to front. I also have to be very careful how I write things and lots are wrongly written.
Peter
you have a good statement there.yes i can remember times when all helped each other .where i live some do .but some just take advantage of it as well
i will help anyone who will join in with the work [I do find this difficult due to my disabilities ]But if someone need help and I am able to I will help or even point them to someone who is able to help.
Like I have said before .Housing needs to go look around ,some housing estates are looking terrible due to a few tenants thinking the tax payers can pick up the tabs for their rubbish .Some do not want to help themselves.
Lets get the pride back into our estates again!
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Kat
I am lucky I am great with numbers but I have trouble with words :-(
Sanguine
Unfortunately I have to work this many hours and two jobs to pay fro my house and 3 children. You are obviously very narrow minded if you think being an accountant means you can afford a mortgage on a 4 bedroom house.
Please stop attacking me I was offering help to this lady (a bit of community spirit) not wanting abuse
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kat – a little politically incorrect perhaps but I thought doing your numbers back to front made you ideally qualified for accountancy! ;-)
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No Paul. The ideal qualifications are a cloak and a dagger.
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I know Claire well and i know better than all of you how much she suffers with her health! There is alot more to this than has been told i think! There is no excuse for mess either inside or outside although i am a big culprit to this too sometimes. I live in a States Maisonette and have no garden which in one way is ok because i wouldnt always be well enough physically to cope with it but i would love one. If i’m lucky enough to get moved and get a garden i will be doing everything possible to keep it clean and looking nice, even if this involves asking my friends and family to help! There is no excuse, there is always a way round anything if you ask for help in the appropriate way. I dont think the states should help but i am sure there are people who would if they were asked! Money doesnt need to come into it there is always the old a favour for a favour!
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Chris, sanguine et. al. I can almost feel your pomposity coming threw (sic) my screen by advising this lady about her punktuation (sic) and grasp of the English language.
With your wisdom Chris and Sanguine did it ever occur to you there are some single mothers on a low income who have beautiful gardens, and there are some over-paid pen pushers in the finance sector who will have gardens that are an absolute disgrace; (sic)
Chris, Sanguine I’m afraid some inconvienient facts are getting in the way of your ability to determine the central tenant (sic) of this story article.
Instead you prefer to use Claire as a vehicle to demonstrate your condesending and patronising position. Ignorance is just not very clever!
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Whats the big deal, there are a lot more problems than this in the island
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Gardening is a great way to keep fit and loose weight however ill or poor you are.
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Oh and also a great way to develope a relationship with an eight and twelve year old, give them something to do and be proud of and use a bit of youg muscle at the same time. Beats sitting and watching a load of mind numbing rubbish on a flat screen.
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Claire me and my mum would kill for a house with a garden and you have taken advantage of yours if you are that lazy then get a transfer
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I feel sorry for the people that live in States Houses that make a real effort and keep their gardens tidy and nice when probably next door or a few doors up someone else’s gardens looks like a bomb site. Its time the States did something about the lazy ones – there are too many of them. They all seem to be able to afford TVs and cars etc – pity they dont get a lawn mower, spade and broom and get off of their backsides and tidy up their areas. Better still get their teenagers to do something useful and do it for them instead of hanging around doing nothing.
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