In a comment to a recent post of mine entitled Fuck You Too, a fellow Englishman who departed these shores some 25 years ago for sunny Florida chided me for being a complainer. People like me, he said, were one of the reasons he left as if to suggest that Florida is a complaint-free zone and that the art of complaint is a purely English thing. I admit that the English are very good at it and there is much history - both social and political - that explains why.
So - am I a complainer? Well - to be frank yes - but really quite a mild one. And I like to think that I am an honest complainer. The item in question was prompted by selfish car parking. Yes, I complain about people leaving their cars on pavements where I need to walk and I complain about that selfish group who abandon their car in spaces reserved for the handicapped. But as an ‘honest complainer’ I do neither of those things. I have always tried to park my car in a way that will not affect other people. Anything else would be hypocritical. And that is, perhaps, the nub of the problem. There is much hypocrisy amongst people who voice their complaints and sometimes, I have noticed, the louder and more disagreeable they are the more they do not believe the same rules they stridently advocate for others, apply to themselves.
I have near neighbours who are classic examples of this. They are a dour, never-smiling couple who take exception to everything. They don’t like my dogs, they almost certainly don’t like the way I look, dress and behave and probably hate the fact that I have more than one car. They are always the first to sign up to any protest when something threatens their village life and will voice their opinion on others freely and to whoever will listen… even to me while at the same time complaining about me to the people next door. They have even been known to castigate their own next door neighbours for untidy gardens!
In particular, I have noticed over the years, they are the first to object to any planning application in the local area and have been known to go from door to door trying to stir others to join their campaign. Which is why we watched with interest the construction of the building pictured that they put up a few years back and is as big as their bungalow. And did they get planning permission? Come on now - what do you think?
And did I complain? Not a word. But it’s a little bit of ammunition should I ever need it.
Tagged: Culture, England, Personal