How depressing.

[ang_rosin]

Today I was going to update my allotment diary with the news that the season, for me, was officially over [1] and from now on it was tidying up and looking after the winter crops. Unfortunately we got to the plot to find the main gate had it's lock cut off and as we rounded the corner we could see the smoking ruins of our neighbour's sheds. The two allotments opposite. Dad went off to knock for Harry to let him know what had happened. People gathered and events were put together: fire engines were heard at 3 a.m. and I reckon they'd got one one plot and set fire to that shed and it had spread to the next.

No casualties apart from a potato and onion harvest, some locks and the fence between the plots (as that's how the firemen got through). I've taken my spare tools off the plot just in case they've got the taste for it.

[1] Courgettes pulled up last week, cucumbers this week. There's a few hopeful tomatoes still in the greenhouse but the main stuff is gone.

Comments

[brisingamen.livejournal.com]

So far as I can tell, we have not had any trouble of that sort on my allotment garden as yet, but I do wonder how long it will be before ... I keep wondering about whether to keep tools on the plot and for now am still holding out against it.

(However, excitingl, we do have a mysterious power struggle going on within the allotment association to which I do not belong as yet. Judging from the notices that appear, a new group is trying to revitalise allotment life, while an older group thinks that only association members of long-standing should have access to facilities provided by the council for all, and that includes the wood chippings, etc. and I rather think they do not like the fact that the council is doing improvements ... However, this is not helped by the current committee refusing to overhaul a constitution which apparently gives no provision to call an EGM. I can make a guess as to why they're not doing that, but it is still not constitionally acceptable to refuse to allow the members the right to call a meeting if they so desire and say it doesn't matter because they have regular meetings anyway. I'm still not joining the AA for a while, to avoid myself getting sucked into constitutional doings, though I strongly suspect I know rather more about constitutional issues than most of the rest of them put together.)

(frozen)

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

I'd not get involved either. My experience of allotment societies going bad is that it gets very unpleasant very quickly.

I'm lucky that we have two sets of the useful stuff so I'm leaving one set on the plot and keep one at home. It's always difficult what to do about security: too secure it looks like you've got something worth stealing, not secure at all things walk.

[hnpcc]

Bastards. Hope they had insurance or something on the sheds.

[cdave]

How horrid.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Oh no! I wonder if it was random vandalism or if one person was specifically targeted?