Tuesday 25 January 2011

A night on the tiles

On Saturday night we went out for a celebration meal in the village hall. The occasion that we were celebrating was sixty years of the village hall and at the same time the newly installed kitchen was being christened. The village hall had been smartened up in an attempt to make it look more like a bistro than a sixty year old prefabricated village hall. Eleven six seating tables had been arranged around the hall with the top table on the stage. The meal was cooked by the two sons of one of the committee members and served by young ladies who live in the village. The diners all looked quite smart with some men wearing jackets and ties and many of the ladies wearing dresses or skirts rather than the usual trousers or jeans. Husband and I only knew one of the fellow diners on our table, so during the course of the evening we made three new friends.


The evening was a great success and I think that most people enjoyed themselves, but as it was the first time that a meal had been attempted there were a few hiccups and teething troubles which will need to be ironed out for the future. One major omission was the absence of  pepper and salt pots from the table. The takings from the evening will be brought round here sometime this week for husband, who is the village hall treasurer, to bank or to be more accurate he will do the paperwork and I do the actual banking. The proceeds from the evening will go towards the fund to build a new village hall, which is badly needed.

It was nearly midnight by the time that we arrived home and  the next door neighbour's dog was serenading our little lane with his barking. When I had been getting ready to go out I could not help but hear that the neighbour's dog was barking in a way which indicated that they were away or out and he was obviously outside. Strange that, as when the WAG from next door came round on Christmas Eve she said that the dog had become a  house dog and no longer lived outside in the kennel. Well that didn't last long. Anyway  we were going out for the evening and I hoped that by the time we came home that the dog would have barked himself  to sleep. We went out and forgot all about the barking dog. For once his barking was not going to spoil our evening.

There was no point in trying to go to bed with the dog barking outside our bedroom window or thereabouts so we decided to have a nightcap before retiring. Perhaps we should have offered the dog a drink too. By about 1 am peace and quiet appeared to have been restored to our neighbourhood, so we took ourselves off to bed. Just as we climbed into bed what did we hear but the dog barking. We could not stay up indefinitely. We just had to hope that there would not be anymore episodes of barking. But we were wrong. It was nearly 4 am when the dog finally stopped barking and I managed to fall asleep. On Sunday I felt like something that the cat had brought in, or perhaps that should be the dog. I had a headache all day and my eyes felt as if they were out on stalks. Bedtime could not come soon enough.

We have had this problem of the neighbours going away and leaving the dog on its' own for over two years now. We have complained to the Environmental Health department of the local council but we do not appear to be getting anywhere with them. (That is a post for another day). The police and the RSPCA are not interested as it is not their responsibility. The coalition government are in the process of introducing legislation relating to dogs and antisocial behaviour. The sooner this legislation is introduced the better. The idea of living in a cottage up an idyllic looking country lane may seem like heaven, but right now we have the neighbours from hell!

17 comments:

Miss Sadie said...

Oh, dear! Poor CW and husband. Not fair to you after a delightful evening out.

More important, poor dog! Abandoned and calling out for companionship. Bear would never do that to me. (I'm very fortunate that way; I get to lie beside his desk when he's working, or in front of the gas stove when its cold, or on the wing-backed chair when I need to curl up.) People shouldn't be allowed to have dogs if they're not going to look after them properly. I know; I'm a dog.

Akelamalu said...

Your evening sounded ideal, apart from the dog. Bad neighbours can be an absolute nightmare.

Maggie May said...

I feel very sorry for the dog because they are social creatures and he probably feels his family has abandoned him, which they have.
Dogs aren't a bit like cats who are far more independent and I feel this is very cruel.
I am surprised the RSPCA hasn't intervened and made sure the dog has at least been fed & watered.
It is also very annoying for you all too.
I think the only answer is for all of you to put pressure on the owners when they come back.
I suppose theres no way that someone could take the dog in?
Maggie X

Nuts in May

LindyLouMac said...

Oh dear!

the fly in the web said...

What a rotten end to what sounds like a super evening.
I used to like the village hall 'get togethers' in France...you never knew who you might meet and it was good fun.

That poor dog! They must be ghastly people.

cheshire wife said...

Miss Sadie - pleased to learn that you are well looked after.

Akelamalu - you're right.

MM - the dog is fed once a day so the RSPCA aren't interested.

LLM - yes.

Fly - the are ghastly people.

Manchester Lass, Now and Then said...

So sorry to read this CW. We are very fortunate here on the Gold Coast and can lodge a complaint with our City Council. An on the spot fine of $375 can be issued for excessive barking. I feel so sad for the poor dog as he obviously isn't getting the love and attention he needs:( Having said that I feel for you having such inconsiderate neighbours.

diney said...

Poor you - what a shame for the dog as well. Having two dogs myself, I can't understand how anyone can go away and leave them with just someone calling in once to feed. Cruel, as they adore company. Bad luck with those neighbours. Maybe they will move soon - fingers crossed!

cheshire wife said...

Manchester Lass - we really need tighter legislation here.

Diney - they can't move soon enough for me.

Thud said...

Long live the village hall!

Midlife Roadtripper said...

Nothing worse than the aarf of dog at night. Have you talked to the owners? Reminded them to find a place for their dog? Good luck.

SoulDragon said...

Your surroundings sound gorgeous - here I am in Australia, so hot here at the moment that I only venture out at night (!). Reading this post, I keep thinking about the movie Keeping Mum - we all know what happened to that dog - not that I'm making that suggestion! Love your photos for the seasons too. Feel free to drop past my blog...looking forward to my next UK visit!

cheshire wife said...

Thud - it will have to. There is no funding in sight to build a new one.

MLJ - we are going to need all the luck that we can get to sort this one out.

SoulDragon - thank you for visiting. We reckon that if we give the neighbours enough rope they will hang themselves.

CG said...

We have two yapping dogs in our rioad that drive me nuts! The owmers are elderly and probably can't hear the yapping. I have thought and thought about complaining and eventually heard other people had - now the house is up for sale, apparently they are moving into the country. Hope it's not near you, CW!

Gill - That British Woman said...

that is just plain cruel letting a dog bark all night, not just for the dog, but for you as well. Your local by law people should be able to do something. I am surprised the RSPCA won't do anything.

If it were me I would be calling both the RSPCA and the police every day to ask them to put a stop to this. I wouldn't put up with it.

Gill in Canada

cheshire wife said...

CG - I hope not too! We are desparate for these neighbours to move.

Gill - We have tried believe me. Neither the police or the RSPCA have the authority to doing anything in a case such as this. It is the responsibility of the Environmental Health department of the local coucil.

Anonymous said...

I think it was a good idea and a perfect celebration besides it was so good that you attempted to get the village with a different look, I did something similar with people who worked by pharmacy reviews company it was so gratified for me to do something like that.