Pat; A Man Consumed By Hatred .....

  I went after the brambles, today. Fucking things. Only the ones directly encroaching into my compound, 'mind. Going up into my trees will be a push on the scale of a Gulf War. And, considering I use secateurs .....

  So, anyway; I'm snipping these fucking things by the barrow load and chucking them over the wall, into my designated land fill. Ironically, much grown with brambles itself.

  That doesn't bother me though. They don't bother me. They can fucking get on with it. Birds can nest in them and my occasional little burn ups keep my dumping spot free enough. 

  Now, the spot where I 'chuck and burn' happens to be right next to where Niggy gets put on his food chain. And he was on his chain right then ~ having been fed, between me cutting and then picking up all these brambles.

  " Pat wouldn't put up with brambles on his land, Niggy. " I said. Then, it occurred to me that I've never seen so much as a stem of bramble on any of Pat's land. He'd hate them too. I'm sure.

  Hate. I found myself recalling the time I found some shit in one of Pat's sheds. I examined it and pronounced to him that this was cat shit. I saw his face visibly darken. " Cat?! I fucking Hate cats! " He spat, through clenched teeth. (No mean feat, when ye think about it)

  On the way home that day, I'd met Noel. Pat's close neighbour. I recounted the incident to him. " I don't know much about my neighbour, Patrick. " Said Noel. " Except that he Hates cats! "

  Back in the present, I thought about the ivy. Not so long ago, Pat spent some quality time ~ days and days, in fact ~ tramping round his considerable acreage of land with a chain saw. He even roped me in, one afternoon.

  We were crawling in and out of the ditches, live chain saws roaring. Our mission was to cut a foot length out of the lower end of every stem of ivy. On every tree. Lot of fucking trees, I can tell ye!

  " I fucking Hate ivy! " He foamed to me. " It fucking ruins trees! Destroys them! " He even suggested I might get the ivy on My trees. The trees around my paddock that sits amongst his land. I didn't commit. Spotted Flycatchers nest in that ivy .....

  That would have been last winter, I suppose? Or, the one before that? Yes. The one before. Because we were cutting the hated ivy off the trees.

  This winter was when the mad cunt set out and cut down 95% of the fucking Trees on his land!!!!! I shit ye fucking not!!!

  Seems he remembers being able to peer down into the land basin and see this great, sweeping vista. Now, trees in the hedge lines were obstructing his view. He Hated it!

  We've done the juncus rushes. Spent a week or two strimming them into a very temporary oblivion. Couple of years ago that was. Hated them, he did.

  So, I just stood there, with Niggy. Thinking about it. What the fucking hell's next? 

  Now, I can't help but thinking of him, throwing off the covers and leaping out of bed each morning. A firing rage burning within him. Carries on like that? He'll be hating his fucking ulcers!