Evicted

For the past ten days or so we have been parked in a beautiful spot at the bottom of Wilson Avenue. Our back garden is a vast green which heralds the beginning of Brighton’s new national park and from here you can stroll up into the Sussex Downs or down to the marina in a matter of minutes. We have been parked on the quiet road which leads to the campsite, surrounded by other van, car and tent dwellers but unfortunately we have been evicted.

A friendly council ranger approached me this afternoon. “Young lady”, he said, “are you with this van?” I wanted to say no but he’d seen me getting into it so how could I? He explained that he was an ex-traveller himself (I love Brighton) and that he meant no malice but we had to move.

Apparently there have been a few incidents lately where council vehicles and emergency vehicles have been unable to get up the road due to large vehicles blocking their path. I explained that we always park considerately and do not block roads, but he said that the fact that some large vehicles park here attracts others who are not so considerate and that the police have become involved and they will probably paint double yellow lines all up the road. That will be a big shame as most people who park here cause no problem and it is a prime place for watchers of football games to park.

But I can see their point. This is the spot where ambulance helicopters land and one came in today. The County hospital is just down the road and several ambulances arrived. But they could not get onto the green because someone had blocked the entry. I had seen traffic police taking pictures of the offending vehicle earlier in the day. Luckily there is another entrance just behind where we were parked, but if this had been blocked too there could have been problems.

Still, it’s a shame. Why not just paint double yellow lines in front of the park entrances? Or paint parking spaces so that vehicles do not exceed the boundaries? Tomorrow we shall move on.