A few years ago, a guy at work told me what the Polish were like to live with. He resided in a rented room, in a property shared with a number of Polish people. He told me of the attitude they were prone to, and the shenanigans they adopted if they didn't get their own way.

For my part, I took it with a pinch of salt. Perhaps my colleague was unlucky and his co-habitees were not the most genial sort of people to begin with. I didn't assume he was right about the behaviour of a nation.

Now I'm starting to wonder. There's a sort of old fashioned male dominance going in with the Poles in my area. It's as if they assume they have no reason to respect anyone else unless they're at risk of getting a fist in their face, and even then, they relish the prospect of another challenge to their manhood. It's all very feral and if I was honest, a bit depressing. Come on Poland, catch up with the twenty first century, please?

Round Two

My neighbours are back on form. After a period of relative calm following my complaints (and my rebuttal of theirs), they're back to normal, which means the woman is given an excuse to jabber and hoot excitedly for six or seven hours without drawing breath. I have to be honest, she isn't my idea of a fun person to spend time with.

So why did she bang on my wall last night? Was she in the mood to start an argument? Or was that an attempt to prove some sort of social superiority? All she's done is demonstrate what I said in the first place, that they're selfish self-absorbed youngsters who believe they can do as they like if they can get away with it. The trouble is they charm the pants off the letting agent. So for the time being I have to put up with the Punch and Judy show next door.

Under Cover

This morning I wandered into the bathroom somewhat bleary eyed after my neighbours decided it would be fun to bang doors. Through the decorated glass I could see a white shape where no white shape should be. What on earth is that? A parked car? If so, what happened to mine?

I opened the window and looked out to see a heavy duty plastic sheet heaped on top of my car. Why? Why is that there? What idiot decided that dumping a plastic sheet on my car is going to make it any more presentable? Or is this another stunt by a certain someone who's already complained my car is parked in the space I pay rent for?

Wet and...

This morning was an odd sort of start to the day. It was grey and gloomy, as you expect in november, but on the horizon was a layer of darker cloud, which with the low lying clag, gave the impression of hills and mountains in the distnce. A very peculiar optical illusion. Now of course the cloud has thickened and it's started raining. I'm under no illusion about that.