The Lissear Story

The Lissear Story

The Lissear family, who originally hailed from a bordering neighbourhood, used to live down the road from you in tents and caravans. They were not happy with this situation because long ago their ancestors used to live where your house was built and they stirred up all kinds of trouble over the years in pursuit of reclaiming what they saw as their land. On the other hand your ancestors had been there much longer than theirs, and in fact the Lissear's people had indeed taken over some of your land by force but been kicked out long ago by your neighbours.

But one day, after a particularly stormy meeting, the District Council decided that the Lissear family should be allowed to take over your house, and move you into a couple of your back rooms, with only limited access to kitchen and bathroom. There was no consultation, and although you had spent years fixing up your house, suddenly you, your family, and most of your possessions - the Lissear family commandeered the rest - were forced into a fraction of the space you had before.

Naturally you were very upset by this, but all appeals to the District Council were ignored, especially by the leader of the Council who was a very influential person and could have helped if he had wanted to. Over the years the Lissear family grew and took over some of your space even though they were not supposed to under the Council rules. Any objections you made fell on deaf ears, with only a low rumble of dissent from your neighbours who were too afraid to help. Except for one time when they made a short protest which was quickly put down by the Lissear family who then took over some of your neighbours' gardens as a sort of punishment. And once again the District Council did nothing, especially the leader who seemed to be busy with other more pressing matters that day.

Resentment between you and the Lissear family festered, they seemed to be at liberty to do anything they wanted, but if you so much as raised your voice against them, they and the local Council blamed you for being a trouble maker. And when they started confining the more vociferous members of your family to the small attic room as a punishment things really got bad. The Lissear family began to restrict your access to the kitchen and bathroom on the grounds that they needed to be sure that you would not steal the soap or deliberately block the drain. Trying to leave the house would sometimes become impossible as the Lissear family locked the front and back doors at random intervals to keep you indoors and your sympathetic neighbours outside.

The situation went from bad to worse because the Lissear family started to kill your pet dogs which you had bought to guard your part of the house. Because the dogs barked whenever they spotted an interloper, and the Lissear family didn't like this at all as they intruded into your part of the house a great deal even though you weren't allowed to step so much as one inch into theirs. Quite reasonably you felt justified in killing some of their pets to teach the Lissear family a lesson. But this only resulted in the Lissear family forcing their way into your part of the house and spilling all your possessions onto the floor. The local Council did at last intervene when they saw what was going on, but although you both made a pact to keep the peace for a while, the Lissear family kept on killing your pets, and once again you were blamed if you objected or killed one of theirs in retaliation.

The latest problem you have now is that the Lissear family are threatening to remove your head of household because they see him as the chief trouble maker, and they also claim that he has done nothing to keep your dogs under control. Surprisingly this has elicited an objection from the leader of the Council, not because he is on your side at last, but because he has caused trouble with one of your neighbours and knows that if he does not do something to appease them he will be in big trouble. But you know that the Lissear family is too stubborn to take any notice of anyone and will probably go ahead with their plan. You also know that your neighbours have been pushed too far, not only by the fall out of your troubles, but also by the attitude of the Council and the insensitivity of the Council leader. The result will be more trouble than anyone could ever envisage, and unless the Council acts quickly will almost certainly see the destruction of the entire neighbourhood.



	The Lissear family, who originally hailed from a bordering neighbourhood, used to live down the road from you in tents and caravans. They were not happy with this situation because long ago their ancestors used to live where your house was built and they stirred up all kinds of trouble over the years in pursuit of reclaiming what they saw as their land. On the other hand your ancestors had been there much longer than theirs, and in fact the Lissear's people had indeed taken over some of your land by force but been kicked out long ago by your neighbours. But one day, after a particularly stormy meeting, the District Council decided that the Lissear family should be allowed to take over your house, and move you into a couple of your back rooms, with only limited access to kitchen and bathroom. There was no consultation, and although you had spent years fixing up your house, suddenly you, your family, and most of your possessions - the Lissear family commandeered the rest - were forced into a fraction of the space you had before. Naturally you were very upset by this, but all appeals to the District Council were ignored, especially by the leader of the Council who was a very influential person and could have helped if he had wanted to. Over the years the Lissear family grew and took over some of your space even though they were not supposed to under the Council rules. Any objections you made fell on deaf ears, with only a low rumble of dissent from your neighbours who were too afraid to help. Except for one time when they made a short protest which was quickly put down by the Lissear family who then took over some of your neighbours' gardens as a sort of punishment. And once again the District Council did nothing, especially the leader who seemed to be busy with other more pressing matters that day. Resentment between you and the Lissear family festered, they seemed to be at liberty to do anything they wanted, but if you so much as raised your voice against them, they and the local Council blamed you for being a trouble maker. And when they started confining the more vociferous members of your family to the small attic room as a punishment things really got bad. The Lissear family began to restrict your access to the kitchen and bathroom on the grounds that they needed to be sure that you would not steal the soap or deliberately block the drain. Trying to leave the house would sometimes become impossible as the Lissear family locked the front and back doors at random intervals to keep you indoors and your sympathetic neighbours outside. The situation went from bad to worse because the Lissear family started to kill your pet dogs which you had bought to guard your part of the house. Because the dogs barked whenever they spotted an interloper, and the Lissear family didn't like this at all as they intruded into your part of the house a great deal even though you weren't allowed to step so much as one inch into theirs. Quite reasonably you felt justified in killing some of their pets to teach the Lissear family a lesson. But this only resulted in the Lissear family forcing their way into your part of the house and spilling all your possessions onto the floor. The local Council did at last intervene when they saw what was going on, but although you both made a pact to keep the peace for a while, the Lissear family kept on killing your pets, and once again you were blamed if you objected or killed one of theirs in retaliation. The latest problem you have now is that the Lissear family are threatening to remove your head of household because they see him as the chief trouble maker, and they also claim that he has done nothing to keep your dogs under control. Surprisingly this has elicited an objection from the leader of the Council, not because he is on your side at last, but because he has caused trouble with one of your neighbours and knows that if he does not do something to appease them he will be in big trouble. But you know that the Lissear family is too stubborn to take any notice of anyone and will probably go ahead with their plan. You also know that your neighbours have been pushed too far, not only by the fall out of your troubles, but also by the attitude of the Council and the insensitivity of the Council leader. The result will be more trouble than anyone could ever envisage, and unless the Council acts quickly will almost certainly see the destruction of the entire neighbourhood.