It’s Never Boring in St Judes – Police, Bomb Scares and Over Priced Cocaine
The first night we lived in St Judes there was a heavy knocking on the door. It was 10.30pm, we weren’t expecting anyone so I ignored it. The knocking continued. In fact, it became a persistent thumping. I crept to the door prepared to shout at the caller that they had the wrong address when through the spy hole I saw it was the police. With the door on the flimsy chain which my six year old would accidentally come to wrench off, I enquired as to their presence. It soon became obvious they were at the wrong address, but that introduction to the area was simply a taste of what was to come.
It’s never boring in St Judes. It’s a mad area. Named after the Patron Saint of Lost Causes, even St Jude would give up.
Some days when we come home we can’t get home. Several times police tape has cordoned off the street we live in, other times the doorway to the block of flats has been blocked by police incidents.
The most impressive thing I have seen was when we walked out of the door at 6.45am to find three men fighting each other in the street, but throwing and receiving punches whilst managing not to spill their open cans of Special Brew.
Thursday 26 May 2017
We took a diversion from our usual route this morning because three men outside of the Salvation Army were fighting each other with planks of wood. It look like it started in good jest, but not trusting drunk people with accuracy, it was best to go the long way around. This also meant avoiding the Zebra crossing where we were almost taken out by an Amp Electrical van in the week. Apparently people in the middle of a crossing are not as important as retrieving whatever is on the floor of a vehicle.
Our return journey from school prompted interesting questions about the two men lying on the street pavement pretending to have sex with each other.
It’s hard to walk along these pavements due to the sheer volume of fresh spit and last nights vomit.
When incidents happen in Cabot Circus, which is just a stones throw away, it can be difficult to get home. The Daily Express called Cabot Circus an ‘affluent’ shopping district. The affluent shopping district is surrounded by what used to be the tenement slums of the 1800s. These slums were cleared, knocked down and pretty much replaced with more tenement slums with higher rents.
This evening, Avon and Somerset Police received a timed bomb warning. Cabot Circus was evacuated for two hours. The Bristol Post’s Facebook page filled up with comments about how people would think twice about going shopping or to Cabot Circus, or the OMG Huns!!!!! who had only left Cabot Circus like a whole four hours before like!
But people who live in St Judes, like us, probably have to pass through Cabot Circus and Broadmead and every other central terrorist hot spot several times a day every day just like the people who live in Central Bristol, work in Central Bristol and generally, have to commute through Central Bristol. So really, get a grip.
Luckily enough, the drama wasn’t over for the night. At 3.20am a group of well dressed people screaming at each other outside of our window were arguing about the price of cocaine a drug dealer had just invoiced. One man went off to tell him about himself. Would love to know how that went down. Just take it towards Easton please.