International Law

Tales of a skip rat

By John Hirst

I caught the weather girl on BBC 1 Look North last night, and she said it would be a bright, sunny and warm day today. So far, the forecast has been spot on it is simply glorious here in Hull.

Last night RonKnee mounted a rescue mission and crossed the Humber Bridge to visit me. He brought me a food parcel, I now know how the POWs felt when receiving their Red Cross packages, and some money. All in all, it must have set him back £50. As he said, "We've all been there". We have a mutual friend who introduced him to my blog. And since then we became good friends and all because of the internet connection and that community within the blogosphere.

I changed my routine this morning, and had breakfast (sausage sandwich and a cup of tea) before I took Rocky for his walk. I noticed the man who I know has a large hunting knife sheathed in the back of his waistband, throwing a small bedside or TV table into a skip. It looked in pretty good condition, and I thought it would go nicely in Rocky's bedroom (the one James Higham of Nourishing Obscurity stayed in the other week), and I would have instead given it to the Dove House Hospice rather than throw it away. I made a mental note to retrieve it if it was still there when I returned from Rocky's walk.

I popped into Norman's the butcher on Princess Avenue and we discussed the court case involving Rocky and myself, and what a waste of taxpayers money it had all cost. He derided the fact that the LibDem controlled council had been voted number one in the country. I had to agree there are issues I have with the council which would not have placed it so highly. I told him I did not want any dog meat as I had managed to get Rocky back on to the tinned dog food. Still, he asked whether I needed any dog bones and I allowed him to talk me into buying some. The two bags cost £4, which I think is a lot given he once gave me a lot more for free once when he needed to clear some space in his fridge. And, I recall as a child getting a bag of bones from a butcher for 6 old pence. I know some pensioners would (I don't suppose they still do given the cost today) boil them and make stew.

There was £83 and some pence in my current account. However, it is not a true reflection of my worth. There are some outstanding bills which reduce this total drastically. On the off chance, I tried my deposit account and found to my surprise that there was a £100 to my credit. Then it all fell into place. Flo, my barrister friend had mentioned that she recently put some money into it and that I had not thanked her for it. I do recall thanking her. However, obviously I had done so for the previous amount she had deposited in there. I thought she was referring to this and not a further deposit. So, I have been struggling to make ends meet and there I was sat on a gold mine.

I picked up the table on the way back. I have been called some things over the years. Now I am a skip rat.

Full post as published by prisonlawinsideout on September 18, 2008 (boomark / email).