A Waste of Everyone's Time Really

There are a number of dull things I have to do in the course of my work, but I find none of them as dispiriting as dealing with the periodic disorder that centres on the church building. Yesterday, for instance, I was so disgusted and depressed at the trash distributed along the road as far as the railway line that I went along with a litter-picker and a bag and, even though there was new detritus apparent by the end of the day, that felt like a reasonable contribution to make to the local community. Less so scrubbing what seemed to be barbecue sauce off the vestry windows on Monday morning, obviously sprayed up the wall in an attempt to spatter the CCTV camera. I couldn't get the sauce off the stonework without a ladder and a scrubbing brush, neither of which I had access to. 

Yesterday evening I came down to the church to check the hall ahead of the cleaner coming today, and decided to cast an eye over the CCTV. That camera to the rear of the church wasn't working, not because it had been sprayed with condiments, but, as a glance back through the recorded footage revealed, because it had been attacked. A figure in a parka was very visible putting a ladder against the wall, going away and then coming back with a shovel, before banging the cage around the camera. I don't think either implement belongs to us, which raises the question of where they came from and how planned this was. The young gentleman's face is very clear, and the images will be usefully attached to the crime report I will fill out, another very boring activity given the number of times I have done it. As Connie our bookkeeper said, 'If they had brains they'd be dangerous'.