Bench

Just a Quickie

Okay, yesterday was my birthday, I turned 41, pretty unremarkable age I mean 41? After turning 40 which has a profound impact for good or for bad, 41 is pretty humdrum I mean 'So what'?, its not even 42 which as a Douglas Adams fan I am anticipating some sort of enlightenment.....

And it was a pretty unremarkable day (yes I not only started  a sentence with 'And' I also started a paragraph,!!! (oh the humanity, you'll get used to it - its my blog so either be quiet and read on or push off) - anyway, yes, pretty unremarkable, had to work (nobody got up in the house to wish me a Happy Birthday before I left! (Thanks Guys) it was a grey miserable day (brilliant) my new contact lenses were rubbish and ended up in the bin under my desk! (Great!) The girl who was due to be interviewed and save me from my endless stream of split shifts didn't show(fab) in fact the only delight was the  the usual simple but welcome birthday gift from my boss, a bar of posh soap, some wine a cheeky card about being an aging hormonal woman with £20 inside.

(I always feel slight uncomfortable when my boss puts money in my card, as welcome as it is, and I am always grateful of it, its almost like a secret that should never be mentioned. ....)

Anyway. Was given afternoon off (bonus) and spent the afternoon being entertained by the children and uploading photographs to Flickr (for that adventure see my other blog)

Then late in the evening I decided to check the local news, as I do, to see if anything that has happened involves someone I might vaguely know....and I came upon the story that some of you may have been aware of. an event I witnessed the aftermath of and that was the raid on the Bookmakers opposite where I work.

First I knew of it was Tuesday morning when I glanced out of my office window and saw the police tape and a police officer outside the Ladbrokes, I watched the amount of police build up and excitedly took a couple of snaps to share with my friends on Facebook and a couple of people who actually pay attention to my tweets on twitter


Well one of the photos I took was THERE in the report..... I was aware that someone from the local paper had seen my ramblings on twitter and had requested to use it but it was so rubbish I didn't think they would, but there it was.....

http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/local/east-hampshire/staff_locked_in_back_room_of_portsmouth_betting_shop_by_armed_robber_1_3013074

A strange feeling of excitement and fear gripped me, after all a picture be it rubbish or not that I had taken was in the local paper, considering that I have only just this week decided that my latest fad is amateur photography it was quite a feat... but at the same time it was a photo that I had taken surreptitiously of the police... from my office window when I was supposed to be working. (The Virgo in me is still in full on panic mode now!)

Crime Scene

It was only later that I discovered over a period of 24hrs of Postie gossip and bits of news that there had been a hold up in the Book Makers, two female members of staff had been held at knife-point and bundled into the back room whilst the perp had taken off with money from the till - and I had seen nothing .... even with having the best vantage point in town and two (not just one) but TWO cameras in my possession!!

Thank Christ I wasn't asked what I was doing between the hours of 7.30 and 8am because I would have to admit that at the time the robbery was taking place I was within 30 yards of events  taking a photograph of the back of a bench (a bench which had a brass plate on it displaying  'Natures Laws and the Making of Pictures' by WL Wyllie ) and then sitting at my desk in my office tweeting about what a dull day it was going to be.

(I haven't edited this one yet..... its just a quickie blog)