The CockingsGate affair

I must admit that at times living in Stratford makes me wonder what rabbit hole I fell down and when. Just a quick glance (often the best way) through the Weakly Herald (Today’s news-Tomorrow’s fish ‘n chip paper) is enough to send you reeling in disbelief at the sheer horror of daily life in Shakespeare Country.
Take the CockingsGate affair for instance.
As far as I can gather and to cut a long on-going saga short, what we have here is a Town Councillor who appears very much against further building in beautiful uptown Shottery (where he lives and Anne Hathaway lived too. Not together I hasten to add) . Which is great. I couldn’t agree more. However, and as they say, the plot thickens…it seems he has actually applied to the appropriate planning authorities to knock down his own bungalow (sawn-off house), so that he can build three brand-spanking-new 4 bed-roomed properties on the land.
(Deep breath…aaaand relax…)
As if that weren’t baffling enough, tonight (and this is where it gets difficult) the Stratford Planning Committee, who will decide if the Cockings boy can go ahead with his (some might say) dastardly plan and which by the way has himself as a member (you still with me), meet to decide if the very fact that they know (not in the biblical sense of course) Councillor Cockings would mean that they would have to declare an interest. They then (not necessarily in this order) have to decide (writes the magnificently named Preston Witts) what actually declaring an interest will incur. For example (nearly finished) if declaring an interest means that they have to withdraw from making a decision re Cockings proposal, will there be enough members left (a quorum) in a position to make a decision anyway…aaagh!

Anyway, enough of this rubbish. I’m just looking forward to tomorrow and the demonstration of Tea Bag folding at the new craft store just opened in Stratford. Actually I’m not sure if you have to provide your own tea bags? And what about those ones with string attached? Do they count? Blurgle-blum-biddledum-boddle….
Pills…left-hand pocket…quick…too late...I am a tea pot.