Enterprise and bureaucracy / two nations 31st Jan 2010

Enterprise and bureaucracy / two nations

The first Wednesday in January it snowed, hard ---

The first Wednesday of each month we sell at Wells market, where we have loyal customers, as elsewhere, who buy regularly.  On that day four weeks ago it snowed hard.  Not wishing to default, I left the farm at 6am, before the snow packed and became un-drivable.  The journey, of some 90 miles on uncleared motorways and roads, was fairly fraught, and took 2 and 1/2hrs.  The streets and pavements of Wells had not been touched, and were very slippy.

To my relief I found one trader, setting up, not withstanding the market had been cancelled; and was only too pleased to join in.  We were shortly augmented by two other kindred spirits.  The people of Wells were brilliant, applauding our presence, and buying, whether or not they had intended to.  It was fun.

After some 2hrs or so we received a phone call.  It was from Mendip District Council.  They had been watching us on closed-circuit television; we were trading illegally; the market was cancelled; we must leave, and if we did not do so by 12.30, they would serve us with a fixed penalty notice!

The following day the Times featured similar circumstances in Ripon.  Those hardy souls were feted,- an example of Yorkshire grit. 

Who are these people? - What values do they have? - Who do they think pays their pension?