“I hate life & Watchet” was some especially poignant graffiti I saw carved into the bus stop. It pretty much sums things up really.
Although I never actually lived there, I visited Watchet pretty much 5 days a week to score [“A sh*t ton of illicit substances” -Ed] back in the mid-late 90’s for about 5 years. I knew the place pretty well. Chatting with someone who currently lives there, he confirmed the place has not changed a bit. Of course it hasn’t and it never will.
The town/village of Watchet and its slightly-less-psychotic close neighbour Williton (which is also sh*t) looks very lovely driving through it. The quintessential English seaside town. Under the surface is a seething boil of hate, **********, drugs, benefit fraud, happy hardcore, *****, drugs, violence, small mindedness, pettiness, drugs, racism, boy racers, alcohol and drugs.
Any attempt at creativity is met with dismissal and a “who do you think you are” attitude by most. God forbid you should say “please” or “thank you” as this will be met immediately with a “who’s this ****?” attitude. Speaking of c*nts, it is considered the norm to refer to your best friend and worst enemy alike as “this **** here…”
Watchet used to be (probably still is) teeming with ne’er-do-wells and criminals from Burton On Trent, who seem to regard Watchet as the hallowed land and moved down in a bulk exodus. Which I presume says more about Burton than it does Watchet. They all fit in very well together.
It used to be a busy port back in the 80’s apparently and coincidently, that’s where much of the UK’s ****** was smuggled in. The port has been closed for years, but there are several notable local families in the industry who stayed to brighten the place up for generations to come.
For such a small place there is an INCREDIBLE amount of intense violence. People being chased down the street in daylight with a saw, a gas canister being thrown through a window in a feud, multiple doors propped with big sticks to prevent them being kicked in, someone asked for a lay-on of hash, was refused so pulled out an axe and attacked the guy in the head…but it’s OK as the victim overpowered the axeman, tied him up and cut his ear off with a broken plant pot. I personally witnessed the blood all up the ceiling and walls, like something from a horror film.
