Today I encountered three young people entering the Smart car that has been lying on the Grove for very many months, with broken windscreen, flat tyres and police aware and untaxed vehicle notices on it.
I asked them to get out of the car and explained that it belonged to someone and it was not public property. They politely observed that it had lain there for - well, they stated all the true things I have already observed, and implied that they weren’t doing any harm. I left them, thinking this was an argument I wasn’t going to win.
Reflecting further on the matter, I’m not by any means sure that the position I took was right. Maybe a vehicle that the owner had abandoned, the police had ignored and local government had decided to do nothing about was fair game for youngsters to have fun in, to use their imagination in real play.
Whatever, I’m sorry, kids. You made fair points and made them well, where I took the stuffy position. Good luck to you!
