Vic and Betty Pinchin have roots so deep in Mississauga that they probably come out on the other side of the globe some place.
Vic was born on the property that used to be the gravel pit between Mississauga Rd. and the North Service Rd. east of the Sheridan Centre ... before it became the North Sheridan Way landfill site and ... before it became the Region of Peel-owned open space filled with stacks releasing methane gas that it currently is.
Vic is 87.
Betty grew up in Streetsville and spent almost all her life there. Everyone knows their pick-your-own apple farm — which the City has owned for years and they have leased back — which is on the east side Mississauga Rd. at what is now Highway 403. (It’s the property where the historic Leslie Log House now rests near the road.) Betty is 82.
When they moved from the farm in 1971, they built a house on the east side of Mississauga Rd. north of Eglinton Ave., a couple of doors north of the historic Barber House, which is now a restaurant.
The Pinchins, you understand, are not complainers. But they have a problem that they would like to bring to public attention.
Because they live on busy Mississauga Rd. and there is no sidewalk in front of their property, they have always experienced some problems with passersby, garbage and vandalism.
But it has grown to the point that it is intolerable. So, in exasperation, Betty picked up the phone and called the local newspaper.
People, almost always younger people, have walked indiscriminately through their gardens, trooped their muddy feet across the lawn (and then told the Pinchins it isn’t their property when they complain) smashed beer bottles on the decorative stones and even pulled out prized perennials.
The Pinchin house is especially known for its super spring Clematis (like the prize Jackmanii in the before photo above.) People have posed for their wedding pictures in front of them. But not even they are sacrosanct. Someone has hauled some of those out too.
The coup de disgrace came a week ago Friday, when the decorative rail fencing at the front of the house was ripped apart in a pre-Halloween prank.
“I’m fed up to the teeth with it,” says Betty. “Maybe other people get vandalism as well but nobody seems to talk about it.”
Her husband is afraid that by talking about it, the Pinchins could become even more of a target.
“I think enough is enough but I don’t want a big thing made of it,” says Betty. She hasn’t called the mayor or the councillor for (and from) Streetsville, George Carlson, because, “they’ve got things to do other than worry about our little problem.”
Which is exactly why vandalism is so insidious and does not tend to get addressed. How are you going to deal with it when even the victims feel sheepish about complaining?
“You shouldn’t be a target just because you keep your place nice,” says Betty. “It’s done for no reason that I can tell. There isn’t any profit to mess up our place.”
But ignoring it won’t make it go away. There are lots of Betty and Vics out there suffering in silence while young men (it’s almost always young men) take their frustrations out on their property.
Trying to make sense of it seems fruitless because it makes no sense in the first place.
Guess the vandals can’t imagine what it will be like to be 80-years-old some day and still caring enough about your home and your community to make the effort to keep your home and property as clean and neat as possible.