10 July 2021 - Scarecrow; Nextdoor
Dear all,
I am sure that you had all seen Keith’s tremendous entry in the scarecrow – or should that be scaremotorist – competition at the Puddledock Lane/Sutton Road junction. A policeman with, as you can see from the photograph snapped by Jez, a splendid Emiliano Zapata moustache, shades, a speed gun and if my eyes do not deceive me, a seagull (the latter probably to take aerial shots). In my opinion, which as you know counts for very little, this would have been a front runner in the trophy competition. But not now. Sadly I have to report that the scarecrow has been stolen. Yes, I know it’s difficult to believe, but he really has been stolen. Presumably by the same sort of person that Boris is expecting to behave responsibly when all Covid restrictions are lifted. Fat chance of that then. It is a great shame for as Hilary says “It’s very sad that people like to spoil other peoples’ simple fun and hard work”. I do hope that scarecrow competition organiser Liz has a Highly Commended ‘Scarecrow in Absentia’ certificate to award to Keith at the Village Vegetable Show on Saturday 31 July.
In my last email I mentioned that letters had been posted through letterboxes about “Nextdoor”. Ros has contacted me to say that she uses one set up in Preston. Apparently it is a sort of neighbourhood Facebook which generates emails asking for advice and is full of hints, tips, alerts, items for sale etc. Some people use it a lot and make posts about anything and everything but there is usually something of interest about the locality. So there you have it. Probably nothing sinister but the golden rule is never to put sensitive personal information on the Internet unless you are very sure of the destination and of the purpose for which it will be used.
Best regards
Chris