Category Archives: between books

The Men in Black – – –

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Jack’s Wednesday blog post is a brief departure from Wendy’s Scottish rambles – –

A lot of police activity today – up and down our street and both ways on the cross street just down from us. Sirens sounding and lights flashing!

The street outside our house is an alternative to and parallel to the main road out of town to two Interstates, has no stop lights so a frequent getaway route for speeders and other bad boys.

But when town cops, county cops and State cops plus unmarked vehicles all start whizzing past you know something more than speeding is going down.

The last time something like this happened it was a bank robbery – –

But not this time – A sex offender with a girl in tow – –

But what I find interesting is how many law enforcement agencies there are around and how quickly they can coordinate. State Police, County Police, Town Police, not to mention park police, college police and university police. Above all them is the FBI etc.

In Scotland there’s just the national police (carefully controlled by the UK government) and various agencies based in London (not so carefully controlled).

It’s reassuring to know that we are safeguarded in our daily lives, but I’ve also experienced the 6am loud knock on the door and the strange noises on the phone.

This time it all finished peacefully thank goodness – –

In my perambulations around the world I’ve often noticed the various levels of policing – the ones with baggy trousers that stop you jaywalking – and then the ones with neatly pressed uniforms that carry machine guns and drive Harleys! In France the ones to avoid are the CRS – they are the ones with machine guns – but that’s another story – –

Demolition Derby – –

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Jack just barely gets his Wednesday post over the line – –

Wendy wrote a post last week about finding the jars of canned beans and pickles in the rubble of the demolished house next door.

But the actual process of demolition was also interesting!

On the first day a very big bulldozer arrived and began bashing in the windows and then the gable end. Within just a few hours most of the house was reduced to rubble. I was amazed at just how quickly a house that had stood for many decades (maybe a century) could be knocked down.

Then a big truck arrived and the bulldozer began grabbing bits of wood, metal and plastic and dumping them into the truck. This was actually a much slower process than just the knocking down and many days later is still continuing.

Meanwhile the dozer driver, while waiting for the truck to come back, knocked down the garage in less than an hour!

I went out to the porch for my second cup of coffee yesterday morning and wondered why I could unusually see all the way down the street. Then I realized that they’d also ripped up the tall hedge that used to separate the demolished house from the one down from it.

It’s strange how something that isn’t yours, but has been part of your life for even just five years, can affect you. Of course we have no right to say anything about it or what should be done with it.

But, yet, – – those beans and pickles – – –