[Whealie]

My London street has a house in in the middle on the other side of the road that looks like a drug den. Loads of guys hang around outside all day and late into the night. The house is owned by a guy called Dennis.

It is defintiely a pirate radio station, whether or not drugs are sold there, I don't know.

One Sunday a year or so ago I got up to go for a run and the whole street was closed off with that blue and white police tape as someone had been shot there.

When I was having trouble with another neighbour further up the road, one of the solutions several neighbours suggested was asking Dennis to "sort it out" for me, as he doesn't like trouble in the street. I never did.

I was never too sure which character was Dennis. I would lend bicycle pumps and puncture repair kits and say hello whenever someone walked past my garage and I would always wave at the biker who came and went frequently.

Not long ago the biker was pushing his bike that would not start along the road and I ran out and helped him, having a brief chat as we shoved. Turn left at the end and there's a great hill for bump starting. He waved on hs way home later that day.

Two nights ago there were loads of people milling about in the street outside Dennis's house till the small hours, just chatting and supping from cans.

Turns out Dennis was the biker I had helped and I have just heard he was knocked off his motorbike and killed. The late night was a wake for him.

Will be interesting to see what happens in the street now and whether the pirate radio station is closed down and who moves in.

Fancy living a life that involves gun crime and pirate radio stations and probably drugs and surviving it all only to die in a motorcycle accident.