January 20th, 2024Just sayin’…

By Donna Kelly

Sometimes I wonder if the world is going mad. Or is it me? Probably me.

During the Christmassy period we looked at footage from one of our cameras and found someone wandering on the property, with their dog, later seen peering through the front door.

We were away for a few days at the time so I posted the image on social media and asked if anyone knew “this clown” and asked them to email me if they did.

I mean, in the country things do go missing, so you need to be a bit careful. And Glenlyon has a pretty nice community who looks out for each other. So, just putting the word out as well. Who knows who’s next.

Then I got an email from “the clown”.

He said he was really sorry, was just interested in having a quick look and promised not to return. All good.

Nah. Of course he didn’t apologise. He said he was just wanting a look at the school, which everyone knows is up for rent while we try town life (as in Daylesford) for a bit, without the agent. Strike one.

Then he said he entered through the main entrance but of course another one of the cameras spotted him walking across the yard. Strike two.

Finally he said having a beer while walking a dog under our Eureka flag on our property was acceptable in his world. Strike three.

I wrote back and mentioned that in any logical world it was trespassing, we have an agent for a reason and a simple sorry would have been appreciated.

I think that was a pretty reasonable reaction. Nothing too crazy. Told the police not to worry about it. And didn’t think much more about it.

Until last week when I noticed a comment from a new participant under the original “anyone know this clown” saying they think I am the clown. WTAF? Apparently people should be allowed to wander on private property. Who knew?

I wonder if anyone has told the police, lawyers and the courts this snippet of information. Going to make a hell of a difference to the court lists.

The other thing that was a bit nuts this week was someone posting, again on social media, that a certain business was not offering great service. Just their personal opinion – no facts to back anything up. Who does this stuff?

Wouldn’t you just mention it to their face, or send an email or even just stop going there. Nah, rather be a keyboard warrior.

The annoying thing was, and there was a torrent of comments saying how wonderful this business actually is, it was also one of the many essential services that saw us through the pandemic. And they did it really well then too.

As did many other businesses, trying to survive yes, but also dealing with a pretty hard-to-handle public at times. I remember one staffer in a shop saying to me that the big takeaway from Covid was who were the arseholes.

So, although Covid is slowly wandering away, or at least not as scary as it was once, a big shout out to those businesses who kept their doors open and made us feel welcome and safe. And cared about QR codes, licences and wearing masks and providing sanitiser.

We, and many others, remember you. That goes to Tony too, our delivery driver, who fortnight in and out, and weekly for a bit there, delivered local good news to our readers.

Oh, and to our staff who when we said we had to let people go because we were doing it too hard, offered to work for free, to help us ride out that initial storm.

Let’s be kind everyone. Been a tough few years. And everyone has their own recovery time. But please, unless you would like to rent a wonderful old school, keep off my property. Just sayin’… (Oh, I deleted my social media post.)