The Witness

The Witness.

It was a barmy moonlit summer evening and because of the heat he was finding sleeping difficult. He arose from his bed and made his way over to the window which overlooks the lane. It must have been quite early in the morning because very little traffic was about and the area was in almost total darkness.

As he idly scanned the neighbours houses on the other side of the lane - which he was apt to do on occasion like this - he suddenly noticed a movement in the flittering moonlit shadows low down by the front wall of the house directly opposite. Looking more intently he could make out that the shadowy movement was a man and he was busying himself spray painting a slogan on the red brick boundary wall of the property.

He tapped hard on the window to try to attract his attention and maybe scare him off but it appeared to have no effect and the man just carried on for a few more minutes and then, having finished his nasty work, he walked up the lane and got into a large car. The engine started and it drove past his window and disappeared around the corner. He couldn't managed to get even a brief glimpse of the license plate number.

He went back to bed and lay awake a little perturbed, thinking about what he had just seen. He must have been dozing for quite a while when he heard the elderly neighbour opposite pull his front door behind as he left the house to fetch his newspapers from the shop on the corner. He knew it would be him 'cos he'd got used to seeing him on that errand over the years that he had lived there.

He crossed over to the window just in time to see his neighbour opposite looking at the vile graffiti that had been painted on his wall in white letters about two feet in height. He could now read the word. A word which was the vilest of insults that could ever be aimed at any man.

He rapped hard on the window, this time to gain his neighbour's attention, but although he did glance over and up to the window he didn't acknowledge his gestures. The neighbour carried on to the newsagents and came back soon after with his papers.

Shortly after going inside his house he came out again - this time with his wife - to show her the appalling graffitti. She had brought a camera with her and proceeded to take pictures of the horrible scrawl. Again he banged on the window and again he failed to grab their attention. The man then shot off back into the house, came out again and opened the side gates leading down his drive. He heard the garage door being opened and saw the neighbour come trotting back with a couple of old cotton bed sheets and they draped the sheets over the wall to cover up the graffiti. He then went back into the garage and brought back some heavy planking to anchor down the sheets, presumably to stop them from blowing away. With a few bricks to weight down the sheets he finished the job. They then went back into the house.

Later that morning, over breakfast, he told the other housemates what he had seen but no one appeared to want to listen to his tale. He tried at various times to impart what he had seen to whoever he felt should need to know but as per usual he was ignored.

Later that morning it started to rain. He watched as the couple from across the road come out with hose pipes, soap and scrubbing brushes to try to remove the vile message but they soon gave up because the paint was proving impossible for them to shift from the dimpled brickwork. He tapped on the glass of the window again but even when they glanced up to see him beckoning they just ignored him. Having proved that it was too difficult for them to remove they shook their heads, covered the lettering over and went inside again.

Later on that day a police car pulled up at the house opposite and the woman police officer went inside to speak with the occupants of the house and a little while later they all came out and examined the graffiti daubed wall.

That graffiti was still there the next day when the local council cleaning team arrived at lunchtime to clean it off. It took them the best part of two hours to scrub it clean. They did a very good job because even he couldn't tell where it had been. He had tapped on the window any number of times to attract their attention so that at least he could congratulate them on their good work. But they didn't look up once.

Over the next few days he tried to make his way over to speak with the neighbours but each time he did he was thwarted from doing so by the others in the house that he lived in under nursing supervision. You see, he and his housemates suffer from a form of cerebral palsy and it can be very frustrating trying to get one's point across when so afflicted. The nurses don't help much neither.


Signed: witness X. 4th July 2007


We here at Anthony Towers

have just become victim to the work of some cretinous graffiti artist.

My wife and I woke up Monday morning this week and found a vile, malicious message scrawled on our facing-brick wall in letters 18 inches high with white cellulose. What must be the grossest of insults daubed by some mindless cretin, was intended to upset and unsettle both of us. Me in particular.

The local police, are only too aware as to who is most likely to have carried out this vile artwork - in a vain attempt to intimidate. I KNOW !

The perpetrator of this foul deed also libelled me in an attempted to besmirch my good name and standing. That act alone could carry a very long custodial sentence.

We - my wife and I, tried unsuccessfully to remove the gross indecency and I also had to put up with that and cope with attending court as witness for the prosecution against one man in two trials. More than a bit of a coincidence that.

Someone suggested contacting "Grimebusters at Mansfield" and they came as promised and did a fine job of cleaning the wall. The de-graffitiised wall looks as good now as the day that I built it.

My wife and I would like to take this opportunity to thank publicly the two gentlemen from "Grimebusters at Mansfield" for the excellent service they provided and the absolute professionalism that the men showed when removing the sad graffiti.

And the police have been marvellous too. Thank you very much Mansfield District Council. It's just a pity that no one saw the act taking place.


3rd July 2007