Ko-fi

Saturday 7 January 2017

Day 3 in the Cuadrilla House...

Day 3 in the Cuadrilla House... and the good people found plenty of time for coffee and chat in the fog, whilst watching 5 security guards with nothing to do in a muddy field.



So today was quiet! About a dozen of us arrived bright and early, ready for the placing of the temporary traffic lights at 9:30... went to get more coffee at 10... at 10:30 sent social messages advising it may not be worth coming out in the damp as it appeared that Cuadrilla were calling a halt to work already - and it's only day 3! We suspect they'll be back Monday but were perhaps trying to think of strategies to get rid of pesky protectors.

The guards in orange jackets and blue hard hats, huddled near their tin hut and nothing happened.

Having bothered with the thermals and fueled by coffee and time, we ventured up the road a bit to opposite the landowner's house (nasty Mr Wensley who was used to take me to court and sprayed muck all over nice Emma Thompson)... we got the usual beeps from passing cars which we thought Mr Wensley would enjoy. I think he must have felt a little worried as three of the five guards puffed up the hill and a more boss-like moody one joined them. Usually I don't believe there's any point in picking out individuals for blame - this is very much about the system that allows these undemocratic, immoral things to happen... and at first I used to feel sorry for him;  that he too must have been misled at some point in the early days... back then he would have been fed the Cuadrilla lies and told he was doing a service for his community with jobs and investment and that he too could have extra money for his family. I get that this would have looked win-win back then.

Now though is different; after all these years, those 600+ peer reviewed studies and bans all over the place including Victoria, Australia which is heavily dependent on agriculture as we are here in Lancashire; Victoria's cross-party study proved that for every 10 jobs in fracking, you lose 18 in agriculture and it can decimate farming communities. He must know about this stuff and yet has persevered - put all of us in a state of fear, caused the theft of years of our time, made some sell at a loss so they could get out, caused illness through worry for others. He remains stubborn and still fond of spraying his poo over anyone who doesn't agree with his decisions that impact an entire community.

I asked the police why the day's work was cancelled and he said it was Cuadrilla's decision not theirs. My thinking is that they were not expecting us to be slow-walking trucks quite so quickly and were ill-prepared OR the supplier AE Yates of Bolton may have forced their hand after the disruption to their workers and no doubt, the countless emails and phone calls of complaint they will have received.... or something else but whatever the reason, a day's delay to creating a frack site, is a very fine thing.

Was asked about there being a camp set up and said I din't know of any plans (although this can change) - when we put a 'Section 6' on this field in 2014 it was for the purpose of alerting the local residents - and along with the work of residents' groups, it did the trick well enough that people who live close by, are already well-prepared, willing and able to cause delays and impact through non-violent direct action... and still go home to a comfy bed :)

Plus we are at road-building and site-preparation stage and it is actually AE Yates of Bolton who are completing much of the work on the pad before it gets transported here. Site creation is due to take 2-3 months ...maybe a bit longer if we get our slow-walking slow enough lol! Meanwhile... we're still awaiting the outcome of two legal challenges to the overturning of our Council's planning refusal and of course that could mean, they put in all this time and money and end up leaving anyway - empty handed as they do each time. Investor patience is stretched, pockets are empty and rumour has it, Riversotne/Cuadrilla/AJ Lucas are desperate for cash.

A good day in the quiet, foggy Cuadrilla house x

*See you Monday 9:30?

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