Nothing stinks in my nostrils quite the same as idle rich people who think they are something when they are not.
Note: I did not say "rich people" as they can indeed be most active and influential. It's just the possession of wealth can give false signals, just like most other indicators of self-worth.
I first became aware of squatting as a movement in London when I was invited to (of all places) the spacious and exquisite building vacated by the New Zealand Embassy in London next to Regents Park. It was being occupied by a cross section of the dregs of society but also included individuals connected to very wealthy families who were studying Architecture in London. Rich artsy people would be given tours of the place or even stayed there. They thought it was all wonderful, arty, political, and revolutionary.
I have always been a practical person, and I could see, as the new experimental squatting idea disintegrated in ex NZ embassy, that things need to be better organised. i.e.
- Rates should be paid on properties occupied. This made occupation legal and also allowed collection of Rubbish and Supply of water.
- Electricity and Gas accounts should be opened on properties.
- Real owners need to be contacted and negotiated with.
- Local people should be contacted and negotiated with.
I went out and found my first squat..,. Orsett Terrace. I think my brother came along in that discovery enterprise. I found a whole street that was empty and actually had dry rot in places because it was deliberately been left to fall apart. Up to 30% of London was being left empty by property speculators as property prices were escalating but the rent control rights were abhorrent to landlords as they were plain ridiculous in favour of the tenant. It was a very silly situation and London at the time also had a massive homeless problem, and I was a student who was supposed to live there and study Physics.
Now when I found the street, it was clear to me that things had to move quickly. If the Electricity board got wind of my move first, they would simply dig up the street at each end and switch off the juice. So… I picked a house right in the middle, it turns out from ad hoc historical records that it must have been number 44, as later Joe Strummer moved into the basement of 42 with my permission.
The “THEY” talked about here must have been me, as I made all the organizing arrangements.
Search here for “Orsett”
http://www.historytalk.org/Notting%20Hill%20History%20Timeline/timelinechap14.pdf
note:- Richard Branson is mentioned -lol- Good on him!
Back to story.... As I was a legal electricity account holder the electricity board could not switch off the juice by digging two holes it would take many more. So we negotiated, I had to get the squatters to pay for basic services, they forgot the massive bill that accrued after a while. There were some hippies staying in one house that ran a three phase kiln 24/7. The GLC had omitted to sign off the electricity account though (for the whole street, the LEB didn’t like the GLC for some reason and never told them), and as goes normal procedure with you and me signing on/ signing off…. Red Ken and the GLC got stuffed with the bill.
Joe S was a wuss, middle class obviously, and yes is not being honest in what he said about his sqaut basement except about the flies. I expected the little chit to clean up the place himself but he was probably more interested in writing songs or something. The crap he said about the TV’s and vegetables are probably figments of his drug laden mind and probably a mixture of experiences he related to sound kool. He did say later say he wrote a song about me, I seemed to jar his nerves in some way I guess, and he did do well and became fairly successful as a musician.
30. The Clash - English punk-rock band from the 70's
listology.com
They a dropped a place over the last year .
His group beats Madonna by several places. Although we never got on, for some reason I feel a deep level of satisfaction from that statistic.
I had very little time for Joe S or his mates, and he was not immediately productive in any way. Bills had to be paid, even if they were low, and organising the dregs of society does take skill and determination. You talk to me of wealth creation? :-)
Later, at another place near Kings Cross, when The Channel Tunnel folks wanted to give LOTs of mullah to places where we lived, it was all sorts of middle class “Johnny come lately” types who lectured, with their f**king middle class expectations and good education (I had a middle class education btw) that they somehow qualified for twice the amount or more of the shares as they had wives and children. It made me want to puke but I had learned to keep my own opinions to myself when it mattered. I had half the mind to give the demolition mob a call, could have saved A LOT of money that way, but was generous in the end and recommended my brother and others to acquiesce to the terms. It took em a while to accept those terms. They have all done well since. Some of the greedy JCL’s with families blew their double amounts only because they were really idiots in the matter of monetary gain over the longer period.
So… your political garble means little to me, I know what the real crooks sound like, and all decent people need to focus their attention on them at all times. Your odd notions of what type of human being is better than the next is also deeply flawed imho.
Watch the subject matter here if you like; it talks of empty houses now and again…
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