Artykuły

Artykuł pochodzi z pisma "Guardian"

Mother leaves £25 for abandoned daughter and moves to Turkey

Martin Wainwright
Saturday August 6, 2005
The Guardian

A bewildered teenager is staying with friends after getting home from school to find £25 rolled up in a note saying that her mother and older sister had gone to start a new life in Turkey.
Police and social services are investigating how an apparent family tiff turned into something much more drastic, to the astonishment of a small Yorkshire village where everyone knows everyone else and most of their business.
Clothes pegs are still on the washing line of Elaine Walker's rented terrace house in Redmire in Wensleydale. But the locks have been changed and Mrs Walker, an Avon cosmetics rep who supplemented her earnings with bar work and cleaning holiday cottages, has handed in her notice and told the housing association which owns her house that there will be no more rent.
Neighbours described the dramatic flit as "unexpected and appalling", saying that the daughter left behind, 15-year-old Laura Walker, was putting on a brave face but was extremely upset and hurt. Mrs Walker left abruptly two weeks ago with her other daughter, Stacey, who is 17, but other family members have only just discovered the situation after gossip led to local publicity.
North Yorkshire social services and police said last night that their priority was the safety and wellbeing of Laura, who is understood not to have heard from her mother or Stacey and to have no phone number or address for them.
Derek Law, corporate director of North Yorkshire social services, said: "This teenager is the victim of a situation completely beyond her control and in the circumstances she is coping remarkably well. A number of members of her extended family have come forward to offer her both short-term and long-term accommodation. She and officers from social services are talking to those people to establish which is the most suitable accommodation to meet her current needs."
Mrs Walker, who is separated from Laura's father and has three adult children living away from home, went on a family trip last month to Antalya in Turkey, where she had a romance with a local man she called "Al." Neighbours said that there had been much joking on her return about her daydreams of starting a new life in the Mediterranean sun, especially as Stacey had apparently found a boyfriend in Antalya too.
But Melanie Hammond, 32, who used to host sleepovers for Laura and Stacey at her own home in the village, said: "You don't just leave your child behind. I don't think she could return to Redmire now. People wouldn't know what to say to her if they met her in the village."
Another neighbour, 61-year-old Edna Hunter, could not reconcile the situation with the "chatty and friendly" mother she knew. "I understand that she had met someone out there," she said. "This is a close-knit community. When my husband told me, I was in shock."
Mr Law said: "This particular situation has attracted a great deal of media attention, but it is not uncommon. We have dealt with many similar situations in North Yorkshire in the past."
North Yorkshire police said that there were no plans to send officers to Turkey, but consultations were being held with social services on Laura's safety and security and "resolving the issue in a satisfactory way".

appalling- zatrważający, okropny
bewildered- zdezorientowany, oszołomiony
close-knit- blisko związany (o grupie społecznej)
clothes peg- klips do mocowania bielizny na sznurze
cope (with)- dawać sobie radę, radzić sobie
daydream- marzenie, sen na jawie
establish- ustalać
extended family- dalsza rodzina
flit- nieoczekiwana zmiana miejsca zamieszkania
priority- priorytet
reconcile- pogodzić
remarkably- niezwykle, w sposób godny uwagi
resolve rozwiązywać (problem)
sleepover- nocleg u kogoś (poza domem), przenocowanie
tiff- sprzeczka




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