Settle down people
lets continue, .....the war had begun
remember, I was still carrying the Guardian
the new black graduate yuppie,
ready to start riding the crest of the waves
the swotting, the lonely nights burning midnight oil
the cold nights spent over the years at my night-job
the nights away from a warm bed, my Mrs alone
all to build a better tomorrow, to make a brighter future
**** Whittington with no cat, here I come
So nobody taught me how to stitch a kipper
I didn't even know kippers are stitched
all I know is that I wasn't going to be intimidated by thieves
or have money extorted from me by some lowlife scums
and I told them exactly what I thought of them
and advised them to go get gainful employment
I also stated I was going to tell people about their nefarious activities
and organise a petition to get them evicted
Going back, if you're paying attention
that day of the theft, the Mrs came back after a call from me
she knocked on Mama Capone door and had some choice words
for her,
the Police came but said no witnesses, go claim on your insurance
I even went to work that evening
Then it began
from then on, mornings indoor after the Mrs left for work
became a cacophony of noise, from next door a la the Capones
strangely though it also came from flats above and below
surround sounds of bang, bang bang bang all day long
talk about no sleep for the wicked, but hell, how did I become
the wicked
As well as this, suddenly everyone in the neighbourhood
developed frozen faces and became mute
Oh hello good morning says I with my usual bonhomie
frozen faces stare through me with no reply
these are people I formerly shared the utmost courtesy with
Added to this was an invasion of leeches in the neighbourhood
for everywhere I went somebody would talk very loudly
about a leech  suddenly being there, though I saw none myself
it got worse, very worse
people suddenly become very rude for no reason to me
our mail went missing or arrived torn open
about a month after the break in
went down one morning to see our car neatly resting on bricks
all four lovely radial wide wheels, fashion statement, cost a bomb
had manage to undo themselves and taken a forever holiday
the Police merely said, a spate of this appears to be happening
claim on your Insurance
Lets not talk about strange unkempt men barging into me
or me noticing spittle on my coats' back when removed after an outing
or the myriad of racist leaflets sprinkled on our veranda
or the balloon with monkey face tied to our outside railings
My Mrs has now gone very quiet and wasn't eating well
we no-longer see any of the Capone gang out on the landing
but the banging continued relentlessly during the day
I was no longer able to sleep after working from seven pm
to seven am
Our environment had changed, our erstwhile peaceful and happy
lives was changing beyond recognition
I started to see I was now in a war zone
but I did not know even more was to come
The HEAT was on.............