Maureen and I were getting on with our lives, and to be honest, life was good for us, we were getting our pension every week, I was getting my naval pension and my M.O.D. pension, so with all we were getting we had enough to live on, with a little to spare. I was getting a small hand out from the local council, but noticed, that every time my pension went up, the hand out went down by the same amount, so I stopped that, it meant tightening our belts for a year, but after that, we were doing well, and all the money that came into our little flat was ours, then last year, life totally changed for us.
Our next door neighbour Graham who had been very ill, died, his front room wall was next to ours, one brick thick, plus a couple of wallboards, He was a great neighbour, we would talk when he was out on his little patio, he loved gardening, and turned his area outside his flat into a very nice flower and plant area. But he died in the June July, and the company who owned the block of flats came and cleaned up, repainted the inside and put in a brand new kitchen. Then in the September, a young woman moved in, as the local parish councillor, I am Vice Chair of our village Parish Council I went and made myself known to her, and told her that if she had any problems, then knock on my door. The problem she had, was that she loved playing her music at full volume, and you never heard the music, just the beat of the base all the time. I went to her twice in the September and asked her to turn in down a little, but after going round the third time, I was told, she liked her music loud, and if I didn't like it, then move out. I wrote to our housing association who told me she was a vulnerable woman and was under social services. I wrote to social services, but they refused to even say this woman was on there books, then one morning at 4am, we had the fight outside on the grass, some guy who was living with her had done or said something and she was seen on the grass kicking seven bells out of the guy, as the neighbours said, so much for being a vulnerable woman. She then disappeared for two weeks, coming back and starting up again. One morning I was sat at my desk working on my laptop, and the floor beneath my feet was vibrating, to the beat of this so called music, every day was the same, I wrote to the housing association but was told to keep a diary, nothing could be done. By December, there were at least two men living in the flat with the woman, and again the music would go on, then the shouting and swearing would start, over the top of the music, and one of the men had a couple of dogs, and every time the group went to the local pub, the dogs would be left to bark and howl. Then a couple of days before Christmas they all left to spend the holiday with there respected families, we thought, a bit of peace and quiet, but this was not to be, the two dogs were left to fend for themselves, and right through Christmas, they barked and howled all the time. As I have said, Christmas day is also Maureen's birthday, so we always make a big thing of it, we give each other Christmas presents, then I give Maureen her birthday presents, we have a fantastic Christmas dinner, watch the Queen's speech then enjoy a nice relaxing day together in our own company. Christmas 2019 was spent in utter torment, Christmas dinner was eaten in the bedroom, a couple of trays on our laps, we had all the doors closed, so that we could at least hear the T.V. in the bedroom over the noise of barking. I did ring the R.S.P.C.A. after boxing day, and asked how long a dog should be left on its own, and when told, I said these dogs have been on there own for ten days, the woman on the other end of the phone mumbled something down the phone and then cut me off.
When the group came back, we heard just one conversation. "Better get this mess cleaned up." By January Maureen and I were climbing the wall, in December, I had a full head of hair, all bar a bald patch at the back from wearing a naval cap, and my flat caps over the years, but in the front, a good head of hair, yes it was going grey, but for my age, I wasn't that bad looking in that department, Then as usual, I went to the bathroom to wash shave and clean my teeth, and when I went to put the comb through my hear, I found it coming out in clumps, I ended up with two little areas just above each eyebrow, I showed the wife and she sort of said, Michael, that is the shock of what has been going on next door, I took my razor and removed the two clumps and went totally bald on the top.
But as the week's past things got worse, another fight, this time in the street, the police were called, and over the coming weeks called at the flat almost daily, cars were removed and crushed, vans were removed, we saw more police in the Close than you did in Taunton on a Saturday night, it was getting ridiculous. I demanded a meeting with the housing officer, and when this schoolgirl came to the door, I knew, we had no chance, her body language said your an old man and should be six feet under, let this girl enjoy life. But I refused to be pushed into a corner, so said, if you're not prepared to get this sorted, then I will under theAnti social behaviour act take the matter up with a solicitor, It was at that stage, the woman with the housing officer told the wife and I, that an order had been put in place to have her evicted in Febrary. But as we all knew, at the end of February, the coronavirus was well on its way, and the music was allowed to continue.
One day in Febrary, Maureen and I headed for our local Coop to pick up some milk and bread, but as with the last three or four days, the fridge was empty of milk, and the shelves that were supposed to have the bread were also empty, I asked at the counter when the next lot of milk was due and was told. "I don't have to stand and take this, then the manager came out, I was told in no uncertain terms that I should be home in isolation, and even though a lorry had arrived, he would not be unloading it until he was ready, so go home and don't come back. Both Maureen and I went home, we had enough milk in the flat for a couple of cups of tea or coffee, after that it would be black tea and coffee until that ran out, then water. we had no bread, so were living on what we had in the freezer, Every Sunday, I would email my younger sister, just to keep in touch and hope they were all well, plus she was worried about the problems we were having next door, I told her we were both well, even though we weren't, We were getting nothing really, we couldn't even get my tablets for my diabetes, I was in a situation, where I was cutting back to half the normal dose. I got a call from Penny on video call, she took one look at me and said brother, you don't look too good, I then told her what had happened at the Coop, and she was not best pleased. she told me that if I went online to Iceland, they could get food delivered as long as I bought £35 worth, then she said."hang on Michael." there was a pause for about four minutes then she said. "Right give me what you need." So I gave her the things we needed, she said. " right Mike, make sure you are in between 12 and2 tomorrow." I asked her how much do I owe you, but she said. "Your my brother, and if a sister cannot buy a few groceries for her brother, then what good is she." The following day the food arrived, we had bread, milk, coffee, tea and a few little bits that Penny had put in. I then got sorted with Penny's help and organised my own deliveries, and now, every week, I place an order with Iceland and it arrives, as an older person, I am treated as V.I.Ps, which means that we tend to get our orders through when we need them, though I have never taken advantage of the situation, when I put in my order, I always see when the first available delivery is, and go for that day and time.
I went into town just before Christmas and gave the manager and staff a Christmas card saying what a wonderful job they were all doing and thanking them for looking after us over the past year, without Iceland, I think we would have been in real trouble, and of course, my dear sister, bless her.
So for a whole year, we had to endure hell, at the height of the pandemic, Miss music was having parties, guys were coming and going almost daily and the music just got louder and the shouting, arguing and swearing became so bad, we spent more and more time in the bedroom. And the poor man on the other side of the noise went down with two heart attacks and a stroke and is still not 100% and we think will never be his old self. he took the noise to heart, and the slamming doors and guys going in and out of the flat chucking their bikes against his wall took its toll on him. But although I was worried about Brian, I was more worried about Maureen, she also was going down hill rapidly, she spent most of her time on her tablet playing games, the smiles had stopped, the laughing had stopped and if we did have a little snogging session, she would say something to end it, something like. " there's a big black cloud up there,I need to get the washing in before it rains." and the kisses and cuddles would end. But I accepted that Maureen was going through troubled times and all because the housing company who owned this block of flats didn't have the backbone to tell the council that the Close was all old age pensioners mostly, 52 flats with an average age of 65, and they put in a 20 year old. with the councils blessing, but as we all know, these housing people don't care about people, they only care about money, the more they can make for the least work, the better.
So for 14 months, we had to spend our time listening to what was going on next door, people climbing through windows to get in, and general mayhem every day. When the lockdown finished, we were still trapped in our flat, the local bus company took off most of our buses and told us that they could only carry 10 or 15 passengers at one time, and with our bus coming from way out in the sticks, by the time it got to us, it was full, they never considered putting maybe two buses on running together, oh no, so us oldies hat to stay put, Maureen and I did go into town by taxi a couple of times, but we found that unless we were going in to do a big shop, it was a little out of our price range, and anyway we had Iceland, we now had our favourites and we could shop without any problems, so we stayed put, just taking a walk when we needed some fresh air.
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