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Saturday, September 10, 2005

Crossing a line

Some weeks back, when I returned from holiday, I found the window in my outhouse smashed, which was depressing. The only things nickable were a few bottles of beer, so I didn't lose much. I took the glass out and nailed up a hard perspex sheet to keep the rain out, but because I did a basic job I came back from work some days later to find that the sheet had been knocked through. Since then I've had a few bottles of homebrew wine and a cycle lock nicked, because they were within kids reach of the window - stuff further away than a lad can reach has remained untouched.

A line's been crossed. One thing that's clear about Bilborough is how public space is shat on, but private space is left alone. Signs are covered in graffiti, bins are set on fire, the occasional car is nicked and set alight, but the boundaries of people's homes seem to be mostly inviolate. Brick walls are clear of graffiti, rubbish isn't dumped in front yards, windows aren't broken, as is the case in areas such as Strelley, Aspley and Cinderhill (you just have to drive through them to see the difference). Instead, hedges and walls and gardens are well tended, and residents actively maintain and improve their homes and gardens - all over Bilborough extensions are built, paving is laid, ornamental gates and fences are installed, gardens are tended, and houses are painted. Outside home boundaries darrens roam free, but on the whole they obey an unwritten rule that you don't bugger up people's homes.

That's what's depressing and disturbing about the minor vandalisms to my home and car (another, boring story that happened a few months back), that they took place inside the home boundary. The perps obviously consider my boundaries to not matter, and feel themselves free to poke around my front garden and car port. Not to do a proper break-in and burglary - they've neither the brains nor the equipment for proper thievery - but simply to poke around, relieve their chronic boredom through a bit of petty vandalism, and nick anything that presents itself. Even though it has zero value, the act of nicking itself has some pathetic excitement value (I know - I did the same when I was a darren). Proper burglary I could understand, but the local neds are too lazy and thick to do anything more than smash an outhouse window or try to break into a car. Slackers.

Why do this to my home, but not to others? Well, I can't be sure that others aren't also suffering the same petty invasions of boundaries, so maybe it's just standard for these parts. However, I can't see any darren daring to venture into the front yard of the hard cases nearby, partly for fear of physical injury, partly because the long-term residents know who the kids are. I'm soft, though - even if I caught any neds in flagrante in my home I'd likely as not stand aside for them to saunter out smirking. It's been 30 years since I last hit anyone and I've rather lost the knack, plus I'd be more worried that their psycho parents would came after me with baseball bats. I've let kids in my garden, at the time thinking there was no harm to it, but that sends a signal that I'm a soft touch, and those kids that know me will know how soft I am, and that sort of info gets around. When I was a kid, and used to hang out as a wannabe with gangs of lads who'd carry out the same sort of petty vandalism and thievery, we quickly sussed who you could give grief, and who to leave alone, and I doubt things are any different these days.

This is a place for hard men, and hard women, with families - not a place for soft, middle-aged single men. Hard in mind and hard in body is what you need to be to get along in Bilborough. Still, on the plus side, this sort of low-level grottery just adds to my desire to get out of the estate, and ideally out of Nottingham, recently dubbed the second worst place to live in the UK by some C4 property programme.

Comments:
Hi,

I noticed you mentioned Cinderhill. My girlfriend and I are considering moving there - what do you think of the place? We're probably going to be renting a house in one of the new-build estates - do you think we're going to be in for trouble?

Pete
 
I'm not sure, Pete - I've only ever driven through the main road in Cinderhill, up from Broxtowe Lane and Bells Lane and across the large roundabout, and that was a while back. The impression I got was of wall-to-wall grot and rundown housing, particularly through Broxtowe, but that could just be that particular bit up towards Bulwell, which itself seems to be on the slide. I really couldn't say about the main part of Cinderhill, to the East of Cinderhill Lane. Best to check it out yourself, both in the day and the evening, and look for signs such as what the bus shelters and phone boxes are made of, the prevalence or otherwise of shop shutters, and how many (or not) and what sort of people are out and about of an evening. I don't think you're near the main serious trouble spots, which are St Annes, Meadows, and Radford. At least if you're renting you've the option of buggering off after 6 months if you don't like the area.

On the plus side, you'll be near Bulwell and Highbury Vale tram stops, which are not only handy for town but the very presence of a tramline can lead to improvements in the areas through which it passes.

As a general rule, it's best to check places out yourself, and not be too swayed by miserable bastards like me. What I consider grotty might be someone else's homely, and even a grot area can be redeemed if there's a vibrant community there.

Good luck to both of you, and I hope you don't need it.

Fred
 
Thanks for the advice Fred, we've both been students in Nottingham so we know what to expect from the more studenty areas (Lenton, Dunkirk, Beeston, Radford etc) and at least we know the areas that we really need to steer clear of such as the Meadows/St Anns. We're going for a look around next week so we should be able to make up our own minds. Thanks for the tip about having a look around in the evening and the day time - that should be quite revealing.

How would you say the grotty parts of Cinderhill, Bulwell or Bilborough compare to Radford?

Pete
 
Beats me, Pete - I really don't know Radford at all, having only passed through the Derby Road bit of it on the bus route into town. A student I know, who lived there for a while with her BF, described it as scary at night, and that neither of them went out after dark. If she wasn't just being neurotic and it really is a dangerous place, then Bilborough's an oasis of peace in comparison. As mentioned a few times in the weblog, Bilborough's grotty but not dodgy, and I've never worried about walking around there at night. Not that there's anything to walk around to, mind...

Bulwell town centre seems to be going downhill, at least the shopping area, as I remember going there not long after moving into Bilborough and it was quite vibrant, then a couple of years later some of the shops had closed and there was an air of dilapidation, but there could be all sorts of reasons for that. A colleague told me that she'd heard of a couple of nasty daylight muggings in Bulwell but that's very much 4th-hand info.
 
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