Girl Power

There is so much I want to say about today, so much I could say about what happened and every feeling and disappointment.

But instead I have decided to focus on the positives.
Despite the fact that a man with more money than sense was granted retrospective planning permission today for some fairly aggressive vandalism against nature (that he decided he could simply get on with without consulting anyone) and his neighbours; despite the fact that he saw everything from only his point of view and never thought once about the impact on our mother and his other neighbours; despite that fact that he left victorious and can continue to disturb my mother's peace; despite the fact that we sat through hours of the most tedious God-AWFUL planning crap, and found out how useless most local councillors are.... despite all this our mother got up, fought back her anxiety and nerves, and spoke to a room about her well-thought-out and well-reasoned, legitimate objections from a sensible practical point-of-view. She proved how intelligent and considered she is, she proved that it's worth standing up and making your point - even in room where half of the people have made up their mind already and are probably not listening; a room of people where half the councillors seem to only be councillors because of the status and power they think they hold, including a thoughtless man who doesn't understand what it is to have decent morals, to consider your neighbours, to not care about money (this man actually got one of friends to say the objections to his then unapproved works were all due to jealousy!).
She proved that retrospective planning permission is a pile of shit; that a widow about to reach her 70th birthday can have all the power of Nefertiti, and that even if someone is a fucking bastard who is going to walk all over you you still have to make sure you make it as difficult as possible for them.

There is no way in the world people who see wealth as something to respect will ever understand the people who don't and don't want it. It's one of the things I find hardest to get my head around. To me anyone who has lots of money - despite how nice they can appear - can't actually be very nice. If you are very nice you just don't have a lot of money and that's that. Because having a lot of money always means other people go without and piling up it around yourself is wrong when you could be helping others. There is NO WAY anyone can be really good and really rich. It simply is not possible.

So. Today I saw good not winning one battle over rich. But I did see a woman being braver than a silly little man who ran out of the back door like a rat with stolen food when the outcome was announced because he had got what he wanted and that was all that mattered to him.

This afternoon my hand push lawnmower arrived and I pushed and pushed and pushed at small areas of grass and exorcised my frustration while thinking about the day.
I can't help but feel disappointed with my fellow humans when they think they'll just keep getting away with what they can get away with rather than stopping to think how being good to other people is far more rewarding but I guess I should just feel sorry for people who really aren't well-rounded or clever enough to see that being good is the best and nicest and most rewarding way to be. Fuck all that other shit.

So. Mr Bully-Boy neighbour: You won nothing. You proved that retrospective planning permission is pretty much breaking the law but someone forgot to make it so. And if that's how you play, you're missing out on the being nice and feeling fulfilled for being nice. YOU LOSE.

As for the North Devon planning committee: I have no time for you. One or two of you may be decent and in your job for the right reasons but the rest of you are power-hungry numpties. Get a life.

The sun shone all day and the weather was warm and got warmer as the day went on. I am grateful for the decent people in my life and I pity those who will never know what that feels like.

Go Mum!