WHAT DREAMS MAY COME

Dear reader, pray indulge this old geezer this morn.  The post you are about to read is a bit heavy to some taste, sadly, a night of thinking on has not changed the content much and I hop from me cot to this machine with the mindset to write as it flows forth. Will promose you an interesting read, and as always a moral to the story told.

You being 'au fait' with Murray, know that it is he featured in the snap above.  Have no recall who the lovely lady be, just that she attended the Ice Cream Social in August when the snap was taken.

Murray.   How does one define him proper?  Two things you have to lock in on.  Firstly, Murray is in love with ciggies.  The bloody fags will be the death of him and the second hand smoke will kill all round.  Seems that every hour of every day is filled with a fag in his hand.   It is one thing to have a gasp, quite another to be attacked to a smoke machine all day.

The second, and perhaps most important thing to note is that Murray loves to be loved.  He basks in the glow of approval of folks round.  With a quick smile and firm hand shake, Murray tries to make all who come upon take a shine to.  Truth be told, it works a bit too well and the not so lovely folks met from time to time, set eyes on trying to part Murray from what lucre he has in pocket book.  Be in in cash or becoming a renter who will not pay rent.

Harsh as it sounds, it does feel at times as if Murray has a neon sign over head that bad folks see.  The sign says to them that he can be had.  How else to explain so many going bad on the chap?

Murray will tells you that he rode into town some 7 years ago with the expectation that he would purchase some property at good prices, provide low cost housing for good folks and turn a few quid profit.  Murray says that at the start, other owners toxic properties bought 'at a good price' provided a sound basis for building a local land empire.  With close to 100 units, Murray was becoming 'King of the Mountain' of the low end rental trade.  If you listen long enough, Murray tells you many tales of the early glory days.

Truth be told, there must be something to the tales, as some seven years have passed since he landed in the community AND he is still here.  Not as big a landlord as once was and most assuradely, not as profitable.  The years and the renters have not been kind to.  Shift in the economic scene has made property less of value and made the sins of past renters come home to haunt big time.

Murray is a man filled with dreams.   Big Dreams.  Dreams of doing good and righting wrong.   Murray has a vision in his head that never quite caught on.  Not being able to articulate that dream being the primary cause of its death.  That is where this old geezer comes in.

Yesterday afternoon saw Murray in court to file legal action against a tenant.  The 62nd case against a tenant of his in 7 years of doing business.  Think on that, 62 times Murray has had to go to court to rid self of a bad tenant. 62 times.

The case before the court yesterday was of a husband and wife who had not paid rent for 5 months.  Story after story, lie after lie.  Mind, past management thought this renter was 'a lovely person' and Murray ignored the past history of non payment of rent and eviction in the past.  The non paying renters did not show in court, a judgment was awarded to Kay Properties and a date will be set to have the sheriff come out to do a lock-out.  End of story??  Not by half.

Upon lock-out, the real horror will come.  Taking back a unit that has been trashed, allowed to be abused, filled with rubbish and unwanted furniture.  Add cost of total repair to the lost rents and lawyer fees.

There are rare moments when Murray will fess up to having been had many times by tenants.  That the case of yesterday is not an isolated one.  Murray has been down this road many times and never learned the lesson.  It is this that wears one down in dealing with Murray.   It just becomes too much to deal with.

My dears, I am quite capable of seeing the evil that lurks about Murray.  So trusting I am not.  Know full well that one has to protect self from folks who want to do harm to you.  One would think that having been bent over as much as Murray has in past years, he would not want to continue in the role of victim any more.  One would think...

Unlike Murray, the dreams of this old geezer tend to have more flesh and blood to them, unlike the vapours of Murray, floating off into the distance, never quite taking root.  I have dreams, dreams that happen.

I believe that Murray can have his dream.  Affordable housing for good renters.  Be a part of the community.  Make a few quid.  IF...

Murray needs to stop being a victim.  It is a role he does not play well.  Murray also needs to step back from dealing with folks on a one to one landlord basis.  His skills at protecting self from chats and theves are severely lack, if there were any there to begin with.  Murray tinkers with the dream at own peril.

There is no point in history repeating self over and over.  Yesterday was the turning point.   This old geezer will not shovel any more 'past tenant poo'.  Will not stand by and watch others admired do it.  Not at Linda Villa or Park or Garden.  There is no point to it.  Murray will either back away from dealing badly with tenants or learn how to put back into the shovel he will have to use to pick up the 'poo' of his own making.

'WHAT DREAMS MAY COME'...depends on Murray.