Wednesday 19 September 2007

The Common






Here are some pics of the Common. You are not strictly allowed to use it as it is supposed to be private land but everybody does, after all it is a Common, and somewhere along the line was Common Land (you can still see the furrows made by the medieval farming) until some greedy person sold it off, so our mass trespass is some sort of political statement against greedy capitalism and right for people to have green spaces. First and third pics(enlarge to see) school kids using it to go home and the horses. Second pic, you usually find this all over, if somebody has fenced off some land, someone will have kindly removed one of the railings so you can squeeze through.
During the summer a lot of the school kids walk back on it and it can be quite idyllic, when the may comes out on the bushes and with kids collecting frogs surrounded by carpets of buttercups. The horses seem to know when the schools finish because they are usually at the fence waiting for people to give them carrots. You've got to be careful with the horses as they have gone to the wild and will suddenly start galloping about in a herd. At times like this it is best to hide in one of the thickets pictured. Once the two dogs and I spent quite some time in a thicket while the horses thundered past, though Scamp will daringly run up to the odd horse, bark at it, and then run off again like the wind. They will also follow you if you've got a bag, because they think it's food. This happened to me when I felt breathing down my neck and turned to see a large horse eying my bag. Quite often you can see the big kids running away from the horses, and once I carried a young girl on my back across a bog because I had my wellies on because we were fleeing the horses, and had banded together for safety in numbers, as it were. I think the kids have worked out that if you work both your arms in a windmill motion it will scare them off, and you see this particular technique used quite often.
Once a horse got across a bit of fence and ended up in the playground and they have also been seen grazing on the roundabout.
The thickets are quite interesting as they have bit of wood lying about in some sort of pattern, and remind me of that film 'The Blair Witch Project', where objects are left lying about in the spooky woods, possibly by a witch. You will see this in the fifth picture. Who left them there?

11 comments:

lebanesa said...

ooh - We get a lot of witchy stuff here too, on the moor - but nothing like Dartmoor, that is full of black masses and I don't know what.
Awful about the Common - I watched a programme the other day about common land in the New Forest - apparently if commoners don't use it regularly for grazing and whatnot it will revert to the Crown - but it being sold off is really bad. B***** councils probably. In London they sold everything off, or gave it away where we lived. We had Michael Portillo in the local area and he was a right one for that. the local rec went to Sainsbury's and the one of the local convalescence centres/hospitals was given away for luxury housing development.
Lovely to see the pics though, sorry about the mini-rant... I do go into one sometimes '-) LOL

Irene said...

I don't think we have anything like a Common in the Netherlands, but then there are a lot of places that aren't fenced off where you can go, so I guess it's all the same. I watched the Blair Witch Project with my sister and we both thought it was pretty scary and we spooked each other on the way home on our bikes at night. I think English speaking people have more of a tradition of stories of witches and ghosts. Must be that Celtic blood or is it a Saxon inheritance?

Bobbie said...

A person NEEDS to have access to land and nature. When I was a girl in New Mexico we could go most anywhere, but now all the land is fenced with posted signs. I understand why since I own a few acres of land now, but oh I do miss the freedom to go as you please.

Bez said...

Do you remember the mysterious objects left lyimg around in Weelsby Woods?

Enjoyed reading your writings, might try it myself!

Bev said...

It looks a bit witchy but I think it's probably some sort of kids den. After watching Blair Witch I have never seen woodlands in the same light. There is a large sign on the Common syaing No Tressassing but people keep scribbling over the 'No'.

Bev said...

Thanks Bez, you don't have to but you were in the top set at English. Though looking at your blog it must be the most concise blog currently on the internet, containing, as it does, a single word with three letters.

Bev said...

hi this is eleanor the 1st pic is off me and my friends walking home from shcool. I wanted to make my own blog but it didnt work! the one with the pink school bag is me lol!

from Eleanor xxx

Unknown said...

I am really drawn to your photos of the commons, but then I am attracted to things that smack of the mysterious. Im sure somewhere on your blog you might mention what part of England you live in. Where are you? I've always wanted to visit the UK.
~Sue

Artists With Artitude said...

Thank you for visiting my blog :). I really liked your interpretation, especially that we do share education as a common careeer (well, ex, for me). I am going to explore your world...

lebanesa said...

Eleanor, you all look as if you are having a good laugh, but it looks a bit windy and weathery in the pic. Like the funky bag.
You might start your own blog and then your Mum can't pretend to be u! LOL

Bev said...

Sue, I'm in Hull, which is in East Yorkshire, England.