Authorities to the Scene!!

March 12, 2010

Growing up one of the family friends was a deputy sheriff. He said one of his favorite things about being a sheriff was when they got a call being able to turn the siren on and driving like a bat out of hell to get whereever they needed to go. This sheriff is now retired, but he assured me more than once, there wasn't any emergency but he just wanted to drive fast. Lights on, siren on and pedal to the medal. Reading the newspaper on my way to work last week, I came across two articles which could only make me shake my head. Two seperate stories involving the authorities and the responses they each had to seperate crisises.
We complained about how long it sometimes took for the police or even sheriff to get anywhere in the county. I mean goodness, the sheriff should be able to cover the entire distance from Walker to Pine River in under five minutes. It is only thirty miles! Here, apparently this feat can not even be guaranteed across town.
One of the local towns received a call. A shop owner was holding two people under the cover of his shotgun as they were trying to break into his house and his children's steal bicycles. He stuck his head out of the first floor window and told them to freeze he had them under the cover of a shotgun. The would be thieves replied they thought the house was empty and proceeded to put the bicycles back. When the owner ducked back into the house to grab the phone to call the emergency number the theives fled. The owner chased them on foot for a couple of blocks. The police showed up forty five minutes later.
The second article told how a local ambulance driver was under arrest. It seems in trying to hurry to a call for help, the ambulance crew encountered a herd of cattle in the middle of the road. The story got muddled at this point as the ambulance turned off their siren. The owner of the cattle got in front of the herd because he was afraid the cattle were getting spooked. They are not sure if the ambulance turned its siren back on to try to get the cattle out of the way or the herd simply was spooked. The owner of the herd was trampled. Not to be mean, but I grew up near cattle and know if they are spooked, ain't no way in hell I am standing in front of them. I can't figure out why the owner thought it was a good idea. The driver of the ambulance remains under suspension and faces a charge negligence and the equivalent of a manslaughter charge.
Just goes to prove the mentality of some people. The one trying to hurry to help someone else here gets stuck and gets into trouble. The thieves hurrying to steal and run away get off scot free. And the police can't make it to the scene of either.
One final bit from the shotgun owner and the theives. When he told the police he had them under the cover of his shotgun and he had two children in the house with him, the police dispatcher replied he should put the gun away for his own safety. After, the newspaper called and asked for a comment. Summing up the mentality of certain police forces here, they replied. "Once the suspects had fled, the caller should have informed us so we could have called off the officers." Yup, makes one wonder doesn't it.

Modern Transit from London pt 2

January 27, 2010

I actually take the train to work every day. This means I spend over an hour everyday on the train coming and going from work on average twenty-five days a month. Yes, I said twenty five days a month. I work in hospitality specifically Food and Beverage. This means for the uneducated, I work on the days you normally have off and am up before the sun thinks about peeking out and leave work after all of you stumble out of the restaurant, bar or back to your hotel room for the evening and we get done cleaning up the mess ready to see you again the next day.
As I was stating before my rant, I take the trains all the time, at all hours and through all types of weather. (This is England, all types of weather normally occurs within the space of a day.) There are certain things baffling about the modern English rail system. I am not complaining too much about how ticket prices are tied to indexed inflation plus three percent for the next year. I won't even bitch about how the trains stop running before midnight. Don't drink and drive, but if you take the train to a friends or heaven forbid a bar in a different town with friends, you are screwed if you leave after eleven thirty. Nope, not even a complaint about an information system that fails to work properly all the time. "We regret to inform that due to a fault, no real time information can be displayed" Great, so is it coming or not?
Every May and December, the train times will switch by around three minutes. The 5:42 am train leaving Reading going to London will depart on May 16th at 5:39 am. In the first week or so of December, the train will now depart at 5:42 am until May 16th or so when it changes back. All following trains for the day will follow this three minute change. The blindingly obvious reason these train times are in effect are of course leaf fall. "What?" you may ask. At least I asked myself, so I sought out more information. Due to the possibility of heavy leaf fall which would cause the trains to not have the ability to get grip on the rails, they reschedule the trains to run later to allow them to clear the lines.
But most of the leaves fall before the end of November and the train that does the cleaning of the rails runs late in the evening and into the night. (Of course, not past midnight.) Secondly, the rail lines are supposed to be kept clear of overhanging trees and bushes by the maintenance company Network Rail. Nevermind, they are the ones in charge of making sure the rail line improvements are done on time and on budget. So I will give you the overhanging trees ad bushes.
I have the personal belief, the bosses of the company just wanted to sleep an extra few minutes during December through May. Nobody from the trains will confirm this of course. Besides if you had the opportunity to sleep an extra three minutes at four thirty in the morning, wouldn't you? Why not blame it on the leaves which fell a month ago. . .