It’s official – Autumn’s here & I’m pleased …

I appreciate I won’t make any friends saying this but Summer seems to have dragged on & on this year. Every time I’ve gone anywhere I’ve arrived sweaty & fed up & the heat has been really sapping. Riding has meant ground baked like concrete & flies which plague both horse & rider.

The last straw came for me on Wednesday when I travelled to New Scotland Yard to work a rest day. I cycled about half a mile to the BR station, then walked about 20 minutes from Victoria to the Yard.

I arrived with my shirt sticking to my back & my hair plastered to my face. Unsurprisingly the air con had packed up at the Yard so no relief there.

Today I rode CB in a fresh, swirling breeze, the flies left us alone & there was a crisp tang in my nostrils as we trampled bracken underfoot.

Almost the best thing about riding at this time of year is warming up whilst cleaning muddy tack & savouring a hot chocolate watching CB tucking into his tea.

Remember how I told you about ‘I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue’ ?
If you possibly can, listen to ‘Dead Ringers’ on Radio 4, 1830 Friday evenings & 1230 Saturday afternoons. Ignore the TV programme you may have seen bearing this name, it started on radio & radio is it’s true home. Laugh out loud funny.

I start a week of night duty tonight. I’ve been looking forward to it for a few reasons. Our last set of nights was incredibly busy & although stressful, the time went incredibly quickly & we had some really decent bodies (arrests). I’ll have additional company at work in the form of Barley who I have for the next week due to Stuart & Kerry being away. Nights is good for another reason – I can ride every day, which is the perfect antidote to the lack of daylight & weird sleep pattern.

You may have picked up that I’ve been working some of my rest days up at New Scotland Yard. I’m aiming to work 50% of my days off up there to pay off my loans quicker. I answer the ‘999’ calls in what’s known as ‘IR’ or ‘Information Room’ or as you’ll hear Stan refer to it ‘The Room’. It can be very stressful but compared to Kingston where I have to take responsibility when things go wrong, the Yard is a doddle. ‘Hello Police Emergency’, take the details, pass them down to another poor sod to deal with … Next !

I aim to tell you about my favourite ‘999’ call from each shift.

Here for your delectation, is Wednesday’s …

Me ; ‘Hello, Police Emergency’

Caller ; ‘Hello, this is Jonny Wilkinson’

Me ; ‘Oh yes ?’

Caller ; ‘Yes. Charles & Camilla are my parents’

Me ; ‘Right’

Caller ; ‘But it’s between me & the Queen so don’t tell anyone else
alright ?’

Me ; ‘Fair enough’

Caller ; ‘Bye’

Me ; ‘Bye then’

Cx