You're Nicked!

I found this discarded and empty on the wide grass verge along the lane.
It had presumably been taken from the farm shop, as indicated by a label on it, a couple of miles in the opposite direction.

As any of you that have followed my journal will know we have a huge problem with the 'Ethnic Minority of Travellers' in the area, and they nearly stole my dog last week.

Over the weekend they had a rummage in my garage, shame they didn't take the old matress that is preventing me from putting my car away!

Now, I have no proof as to how it came to be on the grass verge, but strange that it was on the route back to one of the many travellers' sites close to us.

I am currently reading 'Gypsy Boy' by Mikey Walsh, a brutal and shocking autobiography of a Romany Gypsy boy. He refers frequently to the Irish travellers who took over the Romany camps and destroyed their reputation as well as their traditional way of life.
There are several references to slaves that were kept, and a similar story hit the news recently in this area.

My thoughts are for the neighbours of the travellers' site at Dale Farm in Essex, which is due to be cleared of a number of illegal caravans and chalets today.

I took the collection box back to the farm shop. The lovely lady said it had been ripped out with it's security chain sometime yesterday. She had just informed the police this morning, there was probably about £15 - £20 in the box.
I plan to make a donation to replace the stolen cash, but I'll do it directly to the Hospice, rather than placing it in the charity box!