MORE ABOUT MR GRUMPY

Les takes a dispationate look at recent debates in the Village Pump.

I seem to recall some few months ago that you Mr. Editor wanted to see more people contributing to the Village Pump, well thanks to Mr. Grumpy your wish seems to have been granted, I can't remember seeing so many letters both for and against what the dear man had to say.

May I suggest for now we put aside what the two main prognosticators did or didn't say and reflect for a moment of the reaction, which by the way came as no surprise to me.

In my view Stoke Ferry, like any other village, is blighted by what I call the "Them and Us" syndrome. If you don't accept that then how do you explain how these expressions of opinion have, and I don't consider this is an exaggeration, divided the village? If anyone thinks that Stoke Ferry, and I emphasise I have in mind other villages as well, is a place where we are all one big happy family working together towards a better tomorrow, well if you think that then words fail me.

What we should be doing is accepting what is what and then asking ourselves how do we overcome this? However on reflection what is the point of trying to solve a problem which is unsolvable, that is the harsh reality of the situation.

If you look back to our history it is dominated by division and no where is this more apparent than when we consider Religion? It's not so long ago that a number of our villages had both a Church and a Methodist Chapel; some, including Methwold, had more. You can't escape the fact that if you mention Politics and Religion you had better run for cover because you are on dangerous ground. Think of Religion and you may well think of many words but I tell you what, Unanimity isn't one of them.

So what's the answer? Well this "Storm" will blow itself out and we shall probably find a little piece of gossip to sustain us for a few days and then it will be back to normal. Have you ever wondered why Coronation Street and Emmerdale Farm are so popular? Well these programmes are all about punch ups, falling out with your neighbours, in other words every day village and town life.

I suppose we could start yet another Soap, called, "The Trials and Tribulations of a Norfolk Village" and the first one to die of sheer boredom will be the winner.

Les Lawrence