BREEZE BLOCKS AND SOME REAL STRIFE

All is quiet around Thanet and Wikipedia today and the the near and Zen blogs are either suspended or have shutters up with 'members only' signs on the bunker doors. When I asked Norah about her perspective on blast proof shutters coming down on Zen her comments were straight to the point. " If you had the riff-raff of Thanet snooping around your Zententesticles or whatever its called", she said," you would go private too, Mr Biggles". Her answer was so good that I forgot to talk to her about her rollers.

If you're wondering about the title of this post and a picture of a Landrover Vogue (£50,000 of car) then let me tell you. It has to be one of the' best' from The Thanet Times for a long while.

Once there was a firm called Fire Technology ,with a very rich man owning 50%. Fire Technology 'went out of business' and promptly re-opened as Fire Technology
International ( a new business of course) but with the same directors, shareholders and premises. (This is not Watchdog, you are still on Thanet Strife; bear with me.) The only problem was, that a not so well off man, a Mr Martin Hodges, had not been paid for £3, 862 of work by Fire Technology ( the original one) not Fire Technology International, which was of course an entirely different company! Mr Hodges got a tiny bit annoyed so went in pursuit of Mr Ken Wills, a well known local businessman and reputedly a £25,000 donator to the Labour Party, to get his money back. Of course he had no joy, even though it was Boxing Day ( no Christmas Spirit here) and this is where the breeze-block comes in. Mr Hodges took the breeze-block for a bouncy castle ride around Mr Wills' Landrover Vogue because Mr Hodges felt that Mr Wills was having a much more enjoyable Christmas than he was and Mr Hodges was effectively paying for it. He managed to inflict £4, 862 of damage to the Landrover Vogue. Thank goodness he didn't get anywhere near Mr Wills' Augusta 109 Helicopter, recently described as 'the airborne equivalent of a Bentley'; goodness knows what the damage would have cost!

Quite rightly charged for this offence, Mr Hodges ended up pleading guilty to the offence before Thanet Magistrates but was represented by Roger Davis who definitely needs to be quoted again. He told the Magistrates about the back-ground to the incident and then said " The exact amount of damage he caused, by a quirk of fate, is oddly exactly £1,000 more than he was owed. It could be argued they could settle for £1,000" ( You have to admire Davis' style)
Remember the name, Roger Davis, if you are ever in a tight spot; he might not get you off completely but clearly is good news!

Poor old Mr Hodges, is now a little poorer; he was ordered to pay Mr Wills £4,862 in damages and will probably have little prospect of ever getting any money from Fire Technology.(International or otherwise). The magistrates, in their wisdom also gave Mr Hodges the minimum sentence possible (he had pleaded guilty); a 12 month conditional discharge. Whilst in no way condoning Mr Hodges actions, I do feel a certain sympathy for him and hope that those few seconds of pounding Mr Wills' Vogue made him feel happier for a shortwhile at Christmas. Like credit card excesses though, he now has to pay for it.