From Rory Stewart’s trek across the Marches, the region of Britain aligned with Hadrian’s Wall.  One of the charms of his account is that he takes the time to talk to the locals.  Here he meets one who laments the interference of ‘newbies’ in the village.  Clearly 17 years in a place is just a tick, and doesn’t entitle you to start sticking your nose into parish affairs.

‘People who have only been in the village seventeen years,’ she said, ‘have been demanding publication of the parish minutes. I refused. It would set the village afire.’

Source: Rory Stewart, The Marches: Border Walks with my Father (London: Vintage, 2017), p. 196

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