Gangmaster Flash / March 21 2007
The new people who have moved into Bernard’s old flat across the road from Audrey and me are from Belarus; six young workers in a one-bedroom apartment with hardly any furniture (there is no room for any!) and no curtains, in a village in Derbyshire.
I was talking to one of them, a bluff and amenable young man called Greg, who told me that they arrived in the UK last Monday via Eurolines Baltic International with a small suitcase and a modest pocketful of spending money each.
There is a large, ugly industrial estate about five miles outside the village and Greg tells me that they are all employed there - both the males and females of the group. In what capacity I don’t yet know: Greg pointedly refused to elaborate, so you can draw your own conclusions. The exact nature of the work is, in actuality, none of my business, but I do feel compelled to inform you, nonetheless, that they all seem very happy to be here. One must presume that they will soon be sending most of their wages home to their families.
On returning to the flat every day at around 7pm, they are always laughing, smoking and cooking, so apart from the obvious lack of space afforded them, I have no reason to feel any immediate concern for their welfare.
Rather, it is the odd fellow who comes to collect them every morning at six that I find predominantly intriguing. He arrives in a battered old Ford minibus that looks like it was ready for the scrapheap during the last war; but by contrast, his sartorial elegance and swishy demeanour is startling. He dresses ostentatiously in what seem to be very expensive suits and stylish Italian footwear. I would say he is about forty years old and looks very smart and well-groomed. He certainly takes his appearance seriously, but it is an incongruous sight to see him leap from the dirty van every morning in order to bang on the door of the flat, shouting and swearing. I think his name is Adam and he looks like a bully.
Susan, who lives a few doors down, whispered to me that he is ‘a very dodgy character’. She also told me that a representative from the local MP’s office is due to visit our newly-installed foreign guests soon – presumably to ensure that their human rights are not being abused in any way. Well hopefully not, but as I say, they all seem very contented – so far at least. And, as previously mentioned here, two or three of them are very pretty indeed.
Filed under East European / Immigration / Migrant Workers / Neighbours / Politics / Pretty Girls
Leave a comment
