The
last weekend in July for me is always a melancholy time of year. I
tend to get depressed. Some relief is brought by Birthdays and
anniversary celebrations right at the end of the month. Made better
when they are spent abroad or far from home.
Much
of this annual gloom concerns the word “Warwick.”
Mention of this latter day Deadwood makes me by turns angry,sad and
uncomfortable. The end of July usually helps lift the end of this
seasonal depression caused by my county town.Some of my “friends”
understand this,some think it hilarious,a few resent it bitterly and
take offence at me even daring to comment on it. Most coudn't give a
flying f***.
Warwickshire
is a county in which paternal generations of my family have lived in
for over four centuries and to whom our Council Tax is still paid. My
father and grandfather served in The Royal Warwickshire Regiment. My
grandad fought on The Somme and as a Military Policeman my dad was
billeted in Warwick during part of WW2, defending it against the
menace of an Invasion which never came.
Those
of you expecting another annual rant over the musical Apartheid known
as Warwick Folk Festival may be disappointed. My views on this cosy
celebration of mutual back-slapping,social exclusion,snobbery and
smugness, rigorously controlled and policed by Folk Royalty, are
already well documented elsewhere.
Don't get me wrong. In various bands and solo I've been very welcome at Warwick Folk Club and Warwick Words Festival. Appreciative and discerning audiences who have always added positive comments afterwards. I like the Town Centre and The Racecourse. But the place also seems to generate
unfairness and injustice at times. For example,on BBC
Radio 4’s Today programme recently I heard
that it was broadcast “
live from Warwick University.” I didn’t listen to all of it,but I expect that,(as the Media so
often do),mention of its actual geographical location was studiously
and meticulously ignored. Warwick University of course, is not actually in
Warwick. It sits firmly within the City of Coventry,one of two award
winning Universities sited within the boundary of The U.K. City of
Culture 2021. I have little doubt that mention of the “C”
word
was carefully avoided by the BBC throughout transmission however.
And have
you enjoyed this glorious summer? Yes the lawns are parched and the
songbirds are struggling,but for a while it’s been like the Mediterranean climate has come home to Warwickshire. Gazebos on
patios.Outdoor meals.Windows wide open to aerate the house. Barbies
and parties and sitting outside late with a cafetiere,reading a book,
listening to birdsong as the twilight and evening peace descends. But
that last Sylvan scene was not for us on weekdays throughout June and July. Before 10pm, all doors and windows had to be closed. Regardless of the humid,hot
sticky nights we've all been experiencing. Our large and beautiful
garden was deserted past 10pm. Why? For our County Councillor,(also a Parish Councillor) a Mr.
Warwick (I'm not joking) is one of many who rubber-stamped the
nightly closure of the M69 weekdays from 10pm-6am the following
morning.Needless to say he doesn't live near the B4109 which runs past our back garden.
The
diversionary route in force whilst these closures are in effect sets
itself. Chosen by Highways England and endorsed by Warwickshire
County Council it means that the single carriageway road at the foot
of our garden has to carry three lanes of motorway for each eight
hours of closure. The speed signs and limits are ignored overnight so
as to greater facilitate the wheels of commerce and industry roaring
onward. By day. the sad man with a mobile camera still occasionally hides in the
back of the police van parked outside the Nature Reserve at the foot
of the hill. Woe betide any tractor driver, horse, or pensioner
exceeding 30 mph down this hill in daylight. But by night the Rule of
Law is suspended. Anything goes.
Some
nights it is the northbound section of the M69 between Junctions 1
and 2 which is closed for a “routine
maintenance”
which has lasted six months. Other nights it is the southbound
carriageways. As yet, it hasn’t been both, but I have no doubts
that the worthies over in County Hall will eventually try that one
out. Probably durinbg the next hot spell.
The juggernauts of DPD and Stobart and all the other "Logistics" (lol) companies thundered relentlessly
through the village (and others on the route) all night every night
except weekends. Saturday and Sunday nights we were allowed a brief respite. Traffic during
the day is busy,but this ludicrous situation resulted in our
night time traffic being heavier than during the daytime. No
wonder houses here aren't selling.
So,like
The Sheriff of Nottingham, my County Town enforces stiff taxes,
but offers little other than misery and discomfort in return. It
seems ashamed of the large vibrant city within its midst and has
unceasingly tried to offload it onto other Metropolitan Boroughs such as the lurking behemoth West Midlands. On the annual weekend when some of you were invited to occupy
its stages and fringe venues, or strolled its venerable streets admiring its fine
buildings remember it is excluded Serfs and Villeins like us,unwelcome and
uninvited,hanging onto our prized ornaments and framed pictures each time a tanker or car
transporter rumbles past, who are subsidising your alfresco pleasures.
As you sat in your tent or motor home,watching the sunset, strumming a
lute or humming along with some Hungarian Nose Flute Ensemble, did you spare
us ostracised and excluded Plebs a thought?
