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Brawling neighbours challenge 'quiet' cul-de-sac myth

Traditional epithet hit by flying cat crap

A decidedly unneighbourly dispute over cat crap which ended in flying feline faeces and court appears to challenge the myth of the traditional "quiet" cul-de-sac.

The unholy rumpus in Chippenham, Wiltshire, inspired a Daily Mail headline containing "Neighbours in quiet suburban cul-de-sac brawl over CAT POO", which in turn prompted the El Reg Bootnotes secretariat to ponder the alleged "quiet" nature of cul-de-sacs.

Cul-de-sacs are legendarily considered peaceful havens of tranquility, so much so that news writers find it extremely difficult to write the term without adding the epithetic "quiet", even when their subject belies the description.

A quiet cul-de-sac

The calm before the storm: A quiet cul-de-sac earlier today. Pic: Shutterstock

Indeed, a quick trawl of the interwebs reveals, apart from the Chippenham quiet cul-de-sac outrage, the case of the "large-scale cannabis factory found on quiet Otford cul-de-sac", the Canadian "quiet residential cul-de-sac" inferno, a "two-storey home at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac" in Niagara Falls similarly engulfed, a "suspicious" explosion in "a quiet cul-de-sac" up North, the "quiet" California cul-de-sac menaced by mudslide, the Hemel Hempstead "quiet cul-de-sace" sinkhole shocker, a residents' uprising in Lancashire "to stop a chainsaw massacre in their quiet cul-de-sac", and, finally, the entertaining tale of Plymouth cops who spent four hours besieging an empty house in, you guessed it, a "quiet cul-de-sac".

Doubtless readers can find further evidence that cul-de-sacs are, despite the epithet, among the liveliest and most dangerous places on earth. ®

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