Well the promised snow has finally arrived in our little corner of the world. It was rather strange really, we live in the Chiltern Hills and so appear to have our own little micro climate......often a few degrees colder, rain when Marlow is dry, dry when Marlow is wet, but what usually happens is that we get a little bit of snow before anyone else in the south. So for the last few days we have been watching the news with amusement as not only has 'the north' and Scotland turned white, but so have places like the south coast and even the Isle of White. Anyway, as promised, we woke up this morning to find the world had gone white. We had a light flurry late morning just as hubby was going to work, but as of yet, we have not had any more, but how knows what tonight will bring.
Yesterday I took the bus (gotta get my moneys worth) to Wycombe to meet a friend for lunch. We ended up in Zizzi's (Italian) coz at Christmas time they do a bottle of Prosecco for £15.95, so we decided we fancied that. We ended up doing the whole hog, finishing with liqueur coffees........luckily all she had to do was walk home and all I had to do was stagger to the bus station, and get the bus home. Temperature was absolutely freezing, I don't think that the frost melted all day, and I have to say I don't think I can ever remember it being this cold. Now I constantly say I was born in the wrong country, that I should have been born in a hot country as I do love the heat, but I used to really enjoy ski-ing, and I don't remember being freezing cold all the time!!!
I have to say I am glad that I am on a rest day today and I am also pleased that for some reason hubby is doing later shifts today and tomorrow. So far his shifts have mainly been early starts, 03.58 being the earliest so far, though they are usually between 5am and 6am, however today and tomorrow he does not starting until about 12.30pm, which means at least the roads have had time to sort themselves out. I am back to work tomorrow, but luckily am on a middle, so don't start until 10am. Ok, now to get a parking place in the park and ride, I need to be there before 9am, but at least I won't be the first car on the road, which is a danger for Thursday an Friday when I am on earlies!!!
Have to say that another thing that has amazed me is the number of schools that have been closed because of snow. Now when I was growing up, we had snow in the winter and I only remember our school being closed once - the boiler broke. And even then, for the children who could not go home...both parents worked say, they could stay at school. But then, I don't remember the country grinding to a halt as it does now.............though at least we do not appear to have run out gritting salt yet!!!
I blogged the other day that it took me nearly 4 hours to get home, a journey of about 22 miles, due to an accident on the M40. Imagine my surprise on Saturday morning when I was sat work and two traffic officers asked if they could leave a guy in the SDO for half an hour or so before they interviewed him. Turns out he was the driver of the lorry that caused the problems. Well, he was quite a nice guy actually, which was not my feelings on Friday when I was sat going nowhere!!
I also have to comment that my boss phoned me on Monday just to check I was ok after the incident on Friday and my lung full of captor spray. I was quite touched really. On Friday, the shift sergeant came to see me just to check I was ok, not just the lung full of captor, but he also said it could be quite shocking seeing something like that for the first time, and then to have another follow up call just to see if you are ok. Hospitality was never like this!
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Sunday, 28 November 2010
It's very cold!!
Well, despite the fact we are still in November, the country has been in the grip of arctic conditions for the last day or two. We have been lucky, apart from a few flakes of snow the other day, the worst we have had to contend with so far has been scraping the ice off the cars in the morning - though I was not amused yesterday when I got back to my car parked at the park and ride at about half three and had to scrape ice off for the second time that day!!! Other parts of the country - Scotland and 'up north' have had much snow............chaos causing amounts, though is the UK that is usually about three flakes if last year is anyting to go by!!!! We are warned that Tuesday is going to be the day..............thank god I am at on a rest day!
Well apart from the cold............and boy, is it cold, -7 degrees C when I left for work at 6am this morning, it has been an interesting few days. I was back at Cowley on Friday, and my wish for a repeat of last week and it be stunningly quiet was not to be. When I opened the doors at 8am, a man was already waiting to come in. He seemed ok, nice and normal until he announced he was the king of India!!! Forty five minutes later he was being subdued by about a dozen police officers having been on the receiving end of captor and a police baton. God did he put up a fight! Now captor spray is very effective usually, it is a type of pepper spray, but the only problem is that when it is used in a confined area, others can feel the affects. So there I was, coughing and spluttering and spent the rest of the day sounding like I was suffering from a severe cold. I had to speak to my boss about something and he asked if I was ok, as I sounded as if I had a terrible cold.............no, that'll be the captor spray! Then followed the down loading of the CCTV, my statement regarding the incident as well as the health and safety form I was told I had to fill out. God, if I had known opening the doors would have created so much paperwork I would have kept them shut!!
So, apart from a lung full of captor spray, all was well. Few stroppy customers, but nothing unusual there and then just before 4pm, I was told I could go home........should have finished at 5pm, so bargain! Anyway, by the time I got away it was about 4.20pm. Now my journey between Oxford and home is about 25 miles, and at that time I thought, I'll be home by 5pm, I'll do a mini roast, that will be a nice surprise for hubby. I finally got home at 8pm!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lorry crash on the M40 shut it between junctions 10 and 6!!!! Seriously not amused.....................shite day and I could still feel the effects of the captor on the back of my throat.
Well apart from the cold............and boy, is it cold, -7 degrees C when I left for work at 6am this morning, it has been an interesting few days. I was back at Cowley on Friday, and my wish for a repeat of last week and it be stunningly quiet was not to be. When I opened the doors at 8am, a man was already waiting to come in. He seemed ok, nice and normal until he announced he was the king of India!!! Forty five minutes later he was being subdued by about a dozen police officers having been on the receiving end of captor and a police baton. God did he put up a fight! Now captor spray is very effective usually, it is a type of pepper spray, but the only problem is that when it is used in a confined area, others can feel the affects. So there I was, coughing and spluttering and spent the rest of the day sounding like I was suffering from a severe cold. I had to speak to my boss about something and he asked if I was ok, as I sounded as if I had a terrible cold.............no, that'll be the captor spray! Then followed the down loading of the CCTV, my statement regarding the incident as well as the health and safety form I was told I had to fill out. God, if I had known opening the doors would have created so much paperwork I would have kept them shut!!
So, apart from a lung full of captor spray, all was well. Few stroppy customers, but nothing unusual there and then just before 4pm, I was told I could go home........should have finished at 5pm, so bargain! Anyway, by the time I got away it was about 4.20pm. Now my journey between Oxford and home is about 25 miles, and at that time I thought, I'll be home by 5pm, I'll do a mini roast, that will be a nice surprise for hubby. I finally got home at 8pm!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lorry crash on the M40 shut it between junctions 10 and 6!!!! Seriously not amused.....................shite day and I could still feel the effects of the captor on the back of my throat.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
The Magic Pass!!!
There have been many benefits with hubby leaving hospitality and becoming a bus driver.
Number one has got to be that we actually see each other, which is always a bonus when you are married to someone. I am contracted to work a 37 hour week..........now some weeks I work 45 but others I work 27, so it all evens out in the end. Hubby is contracted for a 39 hour week, and basically, that is what he works. After being used to him working a minimum of a 50 hour week, and quite frequently 60 hours plus, you can work out the impact this change is having on hour lives.
Number two, he actually enjoys the job he is doing. Not saying that he hated hospitality, but there were days that he said he did not really want to go to work, where as now, bit like me, he is happy to go to work.
Number three is the 'magic pass'. This is my current pass - I had to get the pictures done especially as my previous pass has the same picture as my passport, so therefore I look like death!!
Now I like my car, I like driving so I have never been an enthusiastic user of public transport since leaving university. We use the train occasionally to go to London, which works ok, but other than that, until I went to work in Oxford, I could not have told you the last time I got on a bus. However, as parking at the station is extremely limited, we are only allowed to park there on certain shifts - lates and nights if you are interested. The rest of the time, like the County Council desires, we have to use public transport, which for me means park and ride. Apart from the fact that the park and ride I use, is also the coach interchange for the Oxford to London coaches (over 100 hundred a day!!), so is usually full by 9am, this works well. The park and ride buses run about every 15 minutes and mine stops just round the corner from the station, so I have to walk about 50 metres once I get off. Why walk if you pay vast sums in tax to have a car??? The other advantage, is the local bus company in Oxford (Oxford Bus Company, if you are interested) let us travel for free to and from work on production of our ID, so, it doesn't actually cost me anything - goody, we like free!
Anyway, back to the magic pass. One of the perks of hubby being a bus driver is he gets free travel on any First buses (except London, coz they are TFL) in the country, and so do I. Now initially I did not think this would have a huge impact on lives............after all, First are not our local bus company, we have Arriva, so why would I travel all the way to Slough, just to use the bus. But then we discovered the bus company have reciprocal arrangements with other bus company's.............now we are talking! We have a long list of buses we can use in the local and not so local area, so actually this thing has the potential to save us quite a lot of money.
For example this morning I had to go to the hospital. Hubby dropped me in because for some reason Arriva do not run hourly buses to our village. We have a couple of buses before 8am, and then the next one is not until after 9am. Then they run until about 2pm, and then we have a gap again until after 4pm. Not very convenient, but anyway, I got to hospital, had my appointment and then went and had a coffee before getting the bus home.............for free!! A couple of weeks ago I went all the way to Slough, by bus, again for free! Now if I had had to buy a ticket this morning, it would have cost me over two pounds. I dread to think how much I would have had to pay to get to Slough. I am starting to think that when I want to go to Wycombe shopping, I will start to go by bus...............after all, parking usually costs us at least £1.80, if not more, and that's before we even get to the fuel costs.
This is my first pass, with the horrible passport picture. It was the only one I had two of at the time that hubby demanded pictures (you have to provide them with two for some reason). Luckily it expires at the end of this month, so new ones have been issued and my new picture is much better.......I smiled for a start; you're not allowed to smile in passport pictures!
Number one has got to be that we actually see each other, which is always a bonus when you are married to someone. I am contracted to work a 37 hour week..........now some weeks I work 45 but others I work 27, so it all evens out in the end. Hubby is contracted for a 39 hour week, and basically, that is what he works. After being used to him working a minimum of a 50 hour week, and quite frequently 60 hours plus, you can work out the impact this change is having on hour lives.
Number two, he actually enjoys the job he is doing. Not saying that he hated hospitality, but there were days that he said he did not really want to go to work, where as now, bit like me, he is happy to go to work.
Number three is the 'magic pass'. This is my current pass - I had to get the pictures done especially as my previous pass has the same picture as my passport, so therefore I look like death!!
Now I like my car, I like driving so I have never been an enthusiastic user of public transport since leaving university. We use the train occasionally to go to London, which works ok, but other than that, until I went to work in Oxford, I could not have told you the last time I got on a bus. However, as parking at the station is extremely limited, we are only allowed to park there on certain shifts - lates and nights if you are interested. The rest of the time, like the County Council desires, we have to use public transport, which for me means park and ride. Apart from the fact that the park and ride I use, is also the coach interchange for the Oxford to London coaches (over 100 hundred a day!!), so is usually full by 9am, this works well. The park and ride buses run about every 15 minutes and mine stops just round the corner from the station, so I have to walk about 50 metres once I get off. Why walk if you pay vast sums in tax to have a car??? The other advantage, is the local bus company in Oxford (Oxford Bus Company, if you are interested) let us travel for free to and from work on production of our ID, so, it doesn't actually cost me anything - goody, we like free!
Anyway, back to the magic pass. One of the perks of hubby being a bus driver is he gets free travel on any First buses (except London, coz they are TFL) in the country, and so do I. Now initially I did not think this would have a huge impact on lives............after all, First are not our local bus company, we have Arriva, so why would I travel all the way to Slough, just to use the bus. But then we discovered the bus company have reciprocal arrangements with other bus company's.............now we are talking! We have a long list of buses we can use in the local and not so local area, so actually this thing has the potential to save us quite a lot of money.
For example this morning I had to go to the hospital. Hubby dropped me in because for some reason Arriva do not run hourly buses to our village. We have a couple of buses before 8am, and then the next one is not until after 9am. Then they run until about 2pm, and then we have a gap again until after 4pm. Not very convenient, but anyway, I got to hospital, had my appointment and then went and had a coffee before getting the bus home.............for free!! A couple of weeks ago I went all the way to Slough, by bus, again for free! Now if I had had to buy a ticket this morning, it would have cost me over two pounds. I dread to think how much I would have had to pay to get to Slough. I am starting to think that when I want to go to Wycombe shopping, I will start to go by bus...............after all, parking usually costs us at least £1.80, if not more, and that's before we even get to the fuel costs.
This is my first pass, with the horrible passport picture. It was the only one I had two of at the time that hubby demanded pictures (you have to provide them with two for some reason). Luckily it expires at the end of this month, so new ones have been issued and my new picture is much better.......I smiled for a start; you're not allowed to smile in passport pictures!
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Not a good morning!!
I think I mentioned yesterday that I was on the early shift, 7am start, which means I have to catch the 6.30am bus from the park and ride, meaning leaving the house by 5.55am at the latest. Hubby was on a early bus, second of the day I think, so was signing on (what bus drivers do when they go to work - lets the bus company know they have turned up, and means their module will work) at 4.30am, so early start for both of us!!! Anyway, all went to plan I and got the bus (double decker for me, the driver and one other passenger) and I got to work for 6.45am.
First piece of bad news is that the hot water boiler is still broken. We have a little kitchen area in our office, sink, fridge, toaster, microwave and instead of a kettle, a water boiler. This means we always have boiling water on tap..........good when you drink the amount of coffee I do. However, the boiler broke last week - 9th November, and I got to work this morning to find despite the promise that it would be fixed by Thursday this week, it hasn't been. Now not only does this seriously limit my caffeine consumption, but in order for us to get hot water we now have to go to the night kitchen, which it the other side of the briefing room and at least six sets of doors you have to negotiate with a cup of boiling water. Not good on the health and safety front.
I went off to get my first cup of coffee before the night turn left and then I settled down to have my breakfast and read my emails. First disaster................had taken two slices of bread to work to have toast and I knew I had a jar of marmite in my locker. Unfortunately said marmite was rather hard, impossible to spread (bit on the old front), but never mind, touch of water and then melt it in the microwave and there disaster struck. I took my eye of it for a few seconds.....the PEC called and when I went back to it, the marmite had erupted all over the microwave. There was hardly even any left in the pot so I basically ended up with dry toast for breakfast, that and the fact I seemed to manage to get marmite on everything!!!
Then after two days at Cowley without as single TA (unheard of), it is just 8am when the door opens and in walks a bus driver. In Oxford that will only means two things generally..........lost property or TA..........and yeap, you've guessed it TA, non stop! Was about to start the paperwork when he confessed it had been at Heathrow...........yippee. Now we have a bit of a love hate relationship with the Met. General consensus is they are arrogant and lazy...........and I am sure they think the same about us. Basically if you are a victim of crime, you have to report it to the force where the crime happened. So, you have your purse stolen in London, you have to report it in London, not Oxford, as we are not going to investigate a crime that happened in London. Obviously there is some cross over, and if push really comes to shove, you can make a report in another area, then the control room will pass the details, but generally it is easier all round if you report it direct yourself. So TA at Heathrow is the Met's problem, not ours!
Anyway, with the relief of not having to fill in the wretched TA I explained to the bus driver he could go onto the Met's website and get the forms from there as they allow self reporting........and then feeling helpful (suppose I have to be nice to the 'brotherhood' now, as hubby has joined) I even printed them off for him, told him which bits to fill in and gave him the address, but suggested that he give it to another driver who was going up to Heathrow and get them to drop it in at Heathrow police station. Relief was short lived as not long after in walked a pedestrian who had been hit by a car, and although the car driver had stopped, even driven the lady home, it was an injury TA and so we have to take a report even though it goes no where - bugger!!
There after followed several sessions of viewing the CCTV for various reasons, and by the time the middle turn arrived about 9.45am I was quite grouchy............no proper breakfast and only one cup of coffee. Not good!
I am pleased to say the day did improve. but I hope I don't have a morning like that again in a hurry...........better buy a new jar of marmite I guess.
First piece of bad news is that the hot water boiler is still broken. We have a little kitchen area in our office, sink, fridge, toaster, microwave and instead of a kettle, a water boiler. This means we always have boiling water on tap..........good when you drink the amount of coffee I do. However, the boiler broke last week - 9th November, and I got to work this morning to find despite the promise that it would be fixed by Thursday this week, it hasn't been. Now not only does this seriously limit my caffeine consumption, but in order for us to get hot water we now have to go to the night kitchen, which it the other side of the briefing room and at least six sets of doors you have to negotiate with a cup of boiling water. Not good on the health and safety front.
I went off to get my first cup of coffee before the night turn left and then I settled down to have my breakfast and read my emails. First disaster................had taken two slices of bread to work to have toast and I knew I had a jar of marmite in my locker. Unfortunately said marmite was rather hard, impossible to spread (bit on the old front), but never mind, touch of water and then melt it in the microwave and there disaster struck. I took my eye of it for a few seconds.....the PEC called and when I went back to it, the marmite had erupted all over the microwave. There was hardly even any left in the pot so I basically ended up with dry toast for breakfast, that and the fact I seemed to manage to get marmite on everything!!!
Then after two days at Cowley without as single TA (unheard of), it is just 8am when the door opens and in walks a bus driver. In Oxford that will only means two things generally..........lost property or TA..........and yeap, you've guessed it TA, non stop! Was about to start the paperwork when he confessed it had been at Heathrow...........yippee. Now we have a bit of a love hate relationship with the Met. General consensus is they are arrogant and lazy...........and I am sure they think the same about us. Basically if you are a victim of crime, you have to report it to the force where the crime happened. So, you have your purse stolen in London, you have to report it in London, not Oxford, as we are not going to investigate a crime that happened in London. Obviously there is some cross over, and if push really comes to shove, you can make a report in another area, then the control room will pass the details, but generally it is easier all round if you report it direct yourself. So TA at Heathrow is the Met's problem, not ours!
Anyway, with the relief of not having to fill in the wretched TA I explained to the bus driver he could go onto the Met's website and get the forms from there as they allow self reporting........and then feeling helpful (suppose I have to be nice to the 'brotherhood' now, as hubby has joined) I even printed them off for him, told him which bits to fill in and gave him the address, but suggested that he give it to another driver who was going up to Heathrow and get them to drop it in at Heathrow police station. Relief was short lived as not long after in walked a pedestrian who had been hit by a car, and although the car driver had stopped, even driven the lady home, it was an injury TA and so we have to take a report even though it goes no where - bugger!!
There after followed several sessions of viewing the CCTV for various reasons, and by the time the middle turn arrived about 9.45am I was quite grouchy............no proper breakfast and only one cup of coffee. Not good!
I am pleased to say the day did improve. but I hope I don't have a morning like that again in a hurry...........better buy a new jar of marmite I guess.
Friday, 19 November 2010
Out in the wilds and a visit from the boss!
Usually I work at the main police station in Oxford, but every now and then, we have to go to Cowley to cover the odd shift there, and this week it has been my turn and I had the early shift there yesterday and today. This means that instead of starting at 7am, you start at 8am and consequently finish at 5pm instead of 4pm, but it is no great hardship.
Now we at the main station all joke about going down to Cowley. As soon as you find out you have a duty down at Cowley, the usual question is 'who have you upset?'. Actually it isn't that bad, and although I normally dread going there, once I am there it is ok, it is just Cowley is very different to our station and you are always more comfortable with what you know. The main station is usually extremely busy, and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and you just never know what is going to work through the door. Cowley is open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am to 5pm at the weekends, and is a lot quieter, the main stay of their work being 'producers' and traffic accident reports - you can park there for a start and it is quite close to the depots of the two main bus companies in Oxford. I have to say though, this time, in two days I had one producer and no TA's. That has got to be some type of record..............and I have never seen it so quiet, two days of doing very little, but nice change.
However, yesterday I did have a call from a lady who identified herself as calling from Headquarters and she wanted to inform me that the boss - that's the Chief Constable to the rest of you, was having a meeting at our station today. Right then, chance to meet the boss then! In the end it was a bit of a non event. The boss arrived, identified herself - yeah, we know who you are as we all get to see a video of you when we join, plus your pic is on the intranet, but it was nice that she didn't just assume. She said good morning, asked how we were and then left two hours later, saying thank you and goodbye. Seemed nice enough, but hard to tell with such a brief interaction.
Well back to my proper station tomorrow, which means a 7am start; so up at 5.15 am, leave the house by 5.55am to catch the 6.30 am bus from the park & ride. For some strange reason, the bus company put on a double decker at this time and during the week there are normally about a dozen of us on the 6.30am; on Saturday it is often just me and the bus driver! As he has his own seat, that leaves me with a choice of about fifty seats, plus infinal standing room!!!! Never mind, I should be home by 5pm and I am not back to work until 3pm on Monday. Hubby on the other hand is on the second bus of the day tomorrow, so he will be leaving the house at about 3.45 to start work at 4.30am..............he will however be finished by about 1pm!!
Now we at the main station all joke about going down to Cowley. As soon as you find out you have a duty down at Cowley, the usual question is 'who have you upset?'. Actually it isn't that bad, and although I normally dread going there, once I am there it is ok, it is just Cowley is very different to our station and you are always more comfortable with what you know. The main station is usually extremely busy, and is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and you just never know what is going to work through the door. Cowley is open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am to 5pm at the weekends, and is a lot quieter, the main stay of their work being 'producers' and traffic accident reports - you can park there for a start and it is quite close to the depots of the two main bus companies in Oxford. I have to say though, this time, in two days I had one producer and no TA's. That has got to be some type of record..............and I have never seen it so quiet, two days of doing very little, but nice change.
However, yesterday I did have a call from a lady who identified herself as calling from Headquarters and she wanted to inform me that the boss - that's the Chief Constable to the rest of you, was having a meeting at our station today. Right then, chance to meet the boss then! In the end it was a bit of a non event. The boss arrived, identified herself - yeah, we know who you are as we all get to see a video of you when we join, plus your pic is on the intranet, but it was nice that she didn't just assume. She said good morning, asked how we were and then left two hours later, saying thank you and goodbye. Seemed nice enough, but hard to tell with such a brief interaction.
Well back to my proper station tomorrow, which means a 7am start; so up at 5.15 am, leave the house by 5.55am to catch the 6.30 am bus from the park & ride. For some strange reason, the bus company put on a double decker at this time and during the week there are normally about a dozen of us on the 6.30am; on Saturday it is often just me and the bus driver! As he has his own seat, that leaves me with a choice of about fifty seats, plus infinal standing room!!!! Never mind, I should be home by 5pm and I am not back to work until 3pm on Monday. Hubby on the other hand is on the second bus of the day tomorrow, so he will be leaving the house at about 3.45 to start work at 4.30am..............he will however be finished by about 1pm!!
Thursday, 18 November 2010
Airport Security
Things being a little slow on the work side first thing this morning, I was working my way through the BBC website for interesting news items when I happened upon an article about airport security. Apparently they are introducing these full body scanners at the majority of US airports and some people (a minority I hasten to add), are not too keen. Nothing to do with that they are terrorists or anything like that, more the privacy thing.
Now, I think most of us have seen pictures of what these scanners show, and let us say they don't leave a lot to the imagination, but if this is the price of saving us all from being blown apart at 40,000 feet, then if some airport worker wants to have a gawp at my tits, then so be it; that along with the taking your shoes off (would be nice if they could actually wash the floor once in a while), taking off you belt, getting your lap top out, no liquids etc etc!!
Now the article on the BBC website has had a fair amount of comment and most people are saying the same sort of thing; they don't mind the security if it keeps them alive, what they actually want is consistency - why have I got to take my shoes off and the bloke in front did not, and the behaviour of the security staff. Oh, and I am so with them on that!!!!
I find flying immensely boring, a necessary evil to be able to visit those members of the family who for various reason have decided to abandon the UK and live in far flung parts of the world. So apart from spending a significant portion of my annual salary in airline tickets and TAXES (we won't go there right now!), I have to get on a plane. I have never had a really bad flight, some could have been better than others, some staff are better than others, it is the being stuck in a small metal tube with little leg room, tiny seats and screaming children, but job done, I get there. But since 9/11 we appear to be giving free reign to these jobsworth dictators in the making that appear to make up the security staff the world over.
I was actually in the US for 9/11; my uncle came and woke us up at about 7am (we were in California) saying we had to get up and watch what was happening, and we then spent about the next few hours glued to the TV, seeing the second tower hit and both towers fall. We also experienced the strangeness of no planes (uncle lived not that far from LAX) and the fact that every US federal building (government) was shut for days - including the Hoover Dam which we had intended to visit. When we came to go home a few weeks later, security was a little more stringent, but nothing to the levels it has now reached, think they hadn't got themselves sorted at this point.
Anyway, I digress. I think most reasonable and sane people accept and understand the need for the additional security and restrictions, I do. But what I object to is how we are treated. In the UK, and the US I think for that matter, there is the presumption in law, innocent until proven guilty. Generally it is up to the state to prove that you are guilty, not you to prove that you are innocent (in a very simplistic way of looking at it). With airport security this appears to have been lost and the assumption is, you bought a plane ticket, you must be a terrorist in the making then. I work for the police, and if we treated the public the way that airport security treat them, we would all be on disciplinary, and probably out of a job.
I am going to generalise here, and I admit there are probably some airport security staff who this does not apply to (please come out from where ever you are hiding). I have to say that they are rude, humourless, treat you like some piece of dirty they have seen on the floor (there is lots, coz their floors are filthy as I can testify by the state of my socks when ever I have had to take my shoes off!!!!), are condescending and should you dare to object to being treated in such a disgusting manner then you either get special treatment (a more intimate search - in private if necessary) or the ultimate sanction..............you cannot get on the airplane!!!! You get jobsworths in all walks of life, I have worked with a few, yet the airport security business seems to attract these people. They have been given a little bit of power and god do they abuse it. Hitlers in the making...............and why?? I am sure that they would find that things would go far more smoothly if they were actually nice to people. It's the age old adage 'treat people who you would like to be treated yourself'. I have to deal with people who are difficult and not nice, you try the being nice and sympathetic......sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and then you have to use other tactics, but I always try to start off being nice. Maybe these guys should try it and see where it gets them................and we would all have a far more pleasant experience!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, I think most of us have seen pictures of what these scanners show, and let us say they don't leave a lot to the imagination, but if this is the price of saving us all from being blown apart at 40,000 feet, then if some airport worker wants to have a gawp at my tits, then so be it; that along with the taking your shoes off (would be nice if they could actually wash the floor once in a while), taking off you belt, getting your lap top out, no liquids etc etc!!
Now the article on the BBC website has had a fair amount of comment and most people are saying the same sort of thing; they don't mind the security if it keeps them alive, what they actually want is consistency - why have I got to take my shoes off and the bloke in front did not, and the behaviour of the security staff. Oh, and I am so with them on that!!!!
I find flying immensely boring, a necessary evil to be able to visit those members of the family who for various reason have decided to abandon the UK and live in far flung parts of the world. So apart from spending a significant portion of my annual salary in airline tickets and TAXES (we won't go there right now!), I have to get on a plane. I have never had a really bad flight, some could have been better than others, some staff are better than others, it is the being stuck in a small metal tube with little leg room, tiny seats and screaming children, but job done, I get there. But since 9/11 we appear to be giving free reign to these jobsworth dictators in the making that appear to make up the security staff the world over.
I was actually in the US for 9/11; my uncle came and woke us up at about 7am (we were in California) saying we had to get up and watch what was happening, and we then spent about the next few hours glued to the TV, seeing the second tower hit and both towers fall. We also experienced the strangeness of no planes (uncle lived not that far from LAX) and the fact that every US federal building (government) was shut for days - including the Hoover Dam which we had intended to visit. When we came to go home a few weeks later, security was a little more stringent, but nothing to the levels it has now reached, think they hadn't got themselves sorted at this point.
Anyway, I digress. I think most reasonable and sane people accept and understand the need for the additional security and restrictions, I do. But what I object to is how we are treated. In the UK, and the US I think for that matter, there is the presumption in law, innocent until proven guilty. Generally it is up to the state to prove that you are guilty, not you to prove that you are innocent (in a very simplistic way of looking at it). With airport security this appears to have been lost and the assumption is, you bought a plane ticket, you must be a terrorist in the making then. I work for the police, and if we treated the public the way that airport security treat them, we would all be on disciplinary, and probably out of a job.
I am going to generalise here, and I admit there are probably some airport security staff who this does not apply to (please come out from where ever you are hiding). I have to say that they are rude, humourless, treat you like some piece of dirty they have seen on the floor (there is lots, coz their floors are filthy as I can testify by the state of my socks when ever I have had to take my shoes off!!!!), are condescending and should you dare to object to being treated in such a disgusting manner then you either get special treatment (a more intimate search - in private if necessary) or the ultimate sanction..............you cannot get on the airplane!!!! You get jobsworths in all walks of life, I have worked with a few, yet the airport security business seems to attract these people. They have been given a little bit of power and god do they abuse it. Hitlers in the making...............and why?? I am sure that they would find that things would go far more smoothly if they were actually nice to people. It's the age old adage 'treat people who you would like to be treated yourself'. I have to deal with people who are difficult and not nice, you try the being nice and sympathetic......sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and then you have to use other tactics, but I always try to start off being nice. Maybe these guys should try it and see where it gets them................and we would all have a far more pleasant experience!!!!!!!!!!!
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