Sunday, September 03, 2006
Beware of the Leafleter!
We leafleted in Holyrood ward today, where I joined Cllrs D’Albert, Andrew Garner and O’Hanlon on the Polefield Estate, distributing the new issue of Holyrood Focus. I have leafleted the estate a number of times before, but never realised until today the high canine population!
A couple of months ago I was leafleting in Sedgley and was on the receiving end of a nasty nip from one of my dog friends through a letterbox. He was clearly unimpressed by our policies... It was bound to happen before too long, as my hand must appear through the best part of 1,000 letterboxes a month. But on this occasion my luck finally ran out, and I must apologise to the householders who were on my route after the incident, and received a blood-stained and probably quite threatening copy of Focus. Not quite the “friendly neighbourhood delivery” I was hoping for.
Anyway, since that day I have been very wary of a repeat performance, and significantly less gung-ho in my leafleting. Whereas before I would battle gainfully with any sticky letterbox and stick my arm in up to the elbow to ensure adequate clearance from the door, now I am a tad more reticent. So much so that I tend to resort to crumpling the leaflet at even the faintest whiff of letterbox-stickiness. So apologies to any reader who has received a scrunched up Focus of late. It’s nothing personal, I just don’t want to get my fingers bitten off.
And woe betide any house where I can hear growling. When this happens I just leave Focus on the doorstep and run for my life! I had to do this more than once today, as several houses had particularly violent-sounding pets. At one house, in a scene worryingly reminiscent of the “Raptor bit” in the film “Jurassic Park,” a massive Alsation about the size of a cow actually OPENED THE DOOR BY ITSELF and charged towards me. I turned and ran.
I have noticed a lot of houses have “Burglars! Beware of the Dog!” stickers on the front door. This is the kind of warning I need! not because I've come to rob the house, but because I'll know to push from the outside rather than drop from within!
But I get the impression that a lot of dog owners don’t want potential burglars to know that there’s a dog there until it’s too late, and so neglect to inform them (and me) with a sticker of the risks involved in inserting one’s arms into the house. Whilst my intentions are to deliver Focus rather than steal the video, I feel that it is only fair and right for this situation to be rectified as soon as possible… Or, at any rate, for all non-dog-owners to put a sign to that effect on their own doors! At least that way I know I’ll be safe!
A couple of months ago I was leafleting in Sedgley and was on the receiving end of a nasty nip from one of my dog friends through a letterbox. He was clearly unimpressed by our policies... It was bound to happen before too long, as my hand must appear through the best part of 1,000 letterboxes a month. But on this occasion my luck finally ran out, and I must apologise to the householders who were on my route after the incident, and received a blood-stained and probably quite threatening copy of Focus. Not quite the “friendly neighbourhood delivery” I was hoping for.
Anyway, since that day I have been very wary of a repeat performance, and significantly less gung-ho in my leafleting. Whereas before I would battle gainfully with any sticky letterbox and stick my arm in up to the elbow to ensure adequate clearance from the door, now I am a tad more reticent. So much so that I tend to resort to crumpling the leaflet at even the faintest whiff of letterbox-stickiness. So apologies to any reader who has received a scrunched up Focus of late. It’s nothing personal, I just don’t want to get my fingers bitten off.
And woe betide any house where I can hear growling. When this happens I just leave Focus on the doorstep and run for my life! I had to do this more than once today, as several houses had particularly violent-sounding pets. At one house, in a scene worryingly reminiscent of the “Raptor bit” in the film “Jurassic Park,” a massive Alsation about the size of a cow actually OPENED THE DOOR BY ITSELF and charged towards me. I turned and ran.
I have noticed a lot of houses have “Burglars! Beware of the Dog!” stickers on the front door. This is the kind of warning I need! not because I've come to rob the house, but because I'll know to push from the outside rather than drop from within!
But I get the impression that a lot of dog owners don’t want potential burglars to know that there’s a dog there until it’s too late, and so neglect to inform them (and me) with a sticker of the risks involved in inserting one’s arms into the house. Whilst my intentions are to deliver Focus rather than steal the video, I feel that it is only fair and right for this situation to be rectified as soon as possible… Or, at any rate, for all non-dog-owners to put a sign to that effect on their own doors! At least that way I know I’ll be safe!
# posted by Richard Baum @ 18:30 
