Happenings...

[cyberspice]

I live in a relatively nice area in North Leeds, just outside the ring road. The house is a fifties semi but it's at the end of a tree lined road which comprises predominently large inter-war detached houses. To the east of me is the lovely village of Adel and to the west is Cookridge which comprises mainly profession people. To the north of me is a sixties council estate which has the appearance of being rather poor and in disrepair. Between us is a school and one of those awful sixties regional shopping centres that has an ASDA, the local council sports centre, a library and the back of the school. Most of the smaller shop units are closed off and no longer used. There's a large paved area between all of these.

Anyway kids regularly hang around this shopping centre and about once every couple of months we get hassle off of them. Saturday was one such day. As those who have met me know, I'm fairly tall and large (although I hope to fix the latter over the comming year), that combined with the 'butch' gothy look I tend to have makes me stand out.

Well Saturday was the same routine, "Are you a woman?" or "Are you a man?" or "Are you a lesbian" even the rather bizarre "Hey you lesbian, you're a man!". I never generally answer them. To the fairly standard "Are you a man or a woman?" I reply "Yes". Saturday I was wearing a T-Shirt declaring "This product may contain nuts". As we walked off they started throwing stones at us albiet inaccurately. They are scum and also scared shitless of us. If I do turned to talk to them they run off or move back. The girls who sometimes accompany them watch them with ammusement. There are a pair, who about once a month, throw a couple of stones at our front window and run away as fast as possible. As usual, this time, we reported the incident to the police, who, I suspect from conversations I've had in the past with them, know the individuals concerned.

We'll be moving out of that house early next year. I have had offers from some of my biker friends to pay them a visit but I don't know. It would be kind of satisfying for them to be too scared to leave their houses.

and happier

There's a subtle re-organisation of teams going on here. The result is that I appear as a team leader on the plan. They really can't deny me the grade now! Also lisaparratt officially became a team member last week so I'm now her boss! But only while at work, she still nags me to death once we're out of the building.