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Friday Diary: Dale Farm, Nicky Campbell And The Big Move To Salford

Shelagh Fogarty witnesses an assault on a bailiff at Dale Farm and continues her eavesdropping adventures.

By Shelagh Fogarty

23 Sep 2011, 11:00

* This week I hit the ground running. An early start Monday, heading to Dale Farm in Essex for the great showdown between travellers and council. No wonder the land is being fought over - all hedgerows and lush green lanes. One lane in particular though ended in a huge, medieval looking barricade manned by an unlikely mix of teenage travellers, grannies, activists from goodness knows where, and genuine supporters who feel Basildon's efforts to take back Dale Farm are plain wrong. Hours before going on air I chatted informally with people milling around between the legal site and the disputed one. A traveller called Michael, a tall figure in his sixties, told me he's seen prejudice all his life and this was no different. Wide blue eyes looked dolefully at me as he explained why he'd moved his grandchildren to caravans in the legal site for their safety. A couple of hours later the concerned Grandfather cuts a powerful figure in overcoat and Raybans and a rather more threatening one when he throws hot tea in the face of the Bailiff who announces the council's intentions through an inadequate megaphone. A last minute legal hiatus means another court decision - today in fact. Put the kettle on. We might be a while.

* I'm aware I tend to report overheard conversations but I'm unapologetic. They're so rich and revealing and people talk so loudly and openly these days the word 'eavesdropping' is practically obsolete. Once when I was out having a Sunday coffee with the papers I heard two elderly women discussing the relative merits of my friend and then co- presenter, Nicky Campbell. One concluded he was 'rather good looking in a boyish way'. The other gave it a few moments' thought then this - 'yes but a bit scrawny'. I didn't reveal myself but made hay the next day on the Breakfast Show. On Wednesday I heard two American students chatting about what they were up to with their studies. One was doing History, but a keen amateur photographer and she'd secured work at London Fashion Week. The other revealed he was hoping to get more work to continue funding himself. If not he might have to consider going home. What struck me was how employment and study went hand in hand. You could hear in the way they spoke that the UK debate over fees wasn't in their DNA. How long before our students are the same I wonder?

* The BBC's move to Salford gets closer and all the talk in the office, in fact in TV Centre, is house moves and Geography. I'm keeping a low profile since I've spent most of my career splitting my time between the South East and North West of England so this next adventure feels familiar.  Liverpool, London, Manchester - paid council tax in them all! I've made job and life moves several times over the years always with the same aim - to enjoy both. Never before (forgive the Churchillian tone) have I been quizzed so often by so many strangers about where I intend to lay my head. I wish they'd get over it. It's what comes out of the radio that matters.

* There was talk this week of Royal Mail leaving parcels with neighbours again like they used to when people trusted each other. Wouldn't that be nice? I've always been lucky with neighbours and hope they can say the same. In fact my good deed for the day, for the week in fact, is to offload a pile of odds and sods in our shared back garden at the local tip this morning. They're big odds and sods though so who you gonna call? You guessed it - van&man. Three of the most wonderful words in the English Language.