Thursday, March 22, 2007

Its Playtime.

Found this great clip over on Charlie Lima's site.
It reminded me of the days out on patrol when occasionally, if it was quiet, and no one was about, the big kid that lurks inside of me would come out.
One foggy night me and my mate were at an alarm on an industrial estate awaiting the arrival of the keyholder. Premises looked to be secure. We checked around it with our maglites and I noticed the beam and how it looked in the fog.
Its not a torch! ITS A LIGHT SABRE!!
"What are you doing?" asks John (not his real name).
"I sense a great disturbance in the force." says I.
"You're disturbed." He says.
Then he draws his lite sabre and off we duel, sound effects and all, until we see the deathstar approaching and the keyholder arrives.
Different night, different industrial estate, same duo. John's driving slowly, I'm trying hard not to nod off when there they are in the headlights.
BUNNY WABBITS!

(WARNING! Those pink and fluffy in nature may wish to change blogs at this point.)

Drawing my trusty staff and winding down the passenger window I lean out.
"What are you up to?" asks John.
"Try and get one of those wabbits alongside will you. Its time to play Bunny Hockey".
Several runs and endless swings but those furry rodents refused to play along. I thought afterwards maybe it should have been more accurate to call it Bunny Polo, but its my game so Bunny Hockey stuck. Not that it mattered coz I never got one anyway.

(Please note. No Wabbits were harmed during the events on which this blog is based. Not for the want of trying though.)

I remember working one night as passenger in the van about 11 years ago. We pulled up alongside a panda. The bloke driving it really fancied himself. I loved to wind him up on account of him being a geezer from dahn sahf. He opened his door and sat there as we chatted. I then produced a can of silly string and covered him from head to foot as he tried to get at me, forgetting that he was wearing a seat belt so he just rocked back and forth. Oh the joy.

I heard tell in days gone by of a game that used to entail seeing who could get a stamp in their book from the furthest away station from your own but I've never done it myself.

Anybody got any interesting examples? Not that it goes on nowadays of course?

10 comments:

Big Pleb said...

I heard someone from the Met whilst on duty went to france?? Me thinks someones pulling me chain!!!!

dickiebo said...

In 1969, a detachment of Met went to the Caribbean to deal with a small matter. One of them, who I know, did not tell his wife that he was going, and the matter only came to light when she contacted the Met to find out why he had not returned home!

blueknight said...

We used to drive the panda cars to the top of a large hill and see how far we could 'coast' in neutral. The record was 1.9 miles, but it involved a 90 degree turn at traffic lights. You had to hope they stayed green.
I also heard the story about the trip to Paris, I think it was a Met traffic. The other story I heard was that Met Officers walking a certain beat on nights used to go to a railway yard where train carriages were being cleaned and serviced. The carriages were always warm with heaters on so it was a nice place to sit down and rest. Unfortunately one officer over slept and woke up as the train was pulling into Brighton. Thinking on his feet he walked around Brighton for the next couple of hours writing car numbers in his pocket book. Everyone thought he had tipped over the edge and he ended up having a holiday in Flint House or the mid sixties equivalent.

TotallyUn-Pc said...

Hastings on chritstmas day, from north London was my best stamp!

And at the risk of giving myself away a bit... when we had snow, we used to tie sheilds to the back of the van on really snowy days and get chucked around the top of the car park! I laughed so much a little bit of wee nearly came out!

Anonymous said...

Franky loved the string! Quality.

On a set of nights, many years ago. If it was quiet. Which it used to be I’m sure many of you will remember. Me & my partner used to sneak over onto a neighbouring beat in order to wind up our long suffering colleague.

Our favourite trick would be to remove any visible police badges etc, wearing nothing but black. When we saw his van slowly patrolling the streets, we would leg it across his path & disappear into an alley way. He never seemed sure what to do, whether to get out & chase or shout up on his radio. If he got on the radio we would quickly arrive on the scene to assist. It was like the Russ Abbott sketch where he wore one outfit on the left side of his body & another down the right, “When I’m calling You ooooo!”

We say “I just saw someone over there” then point into the shadows & off he’d run. Then me or my partner would disappear & make some rustling sounds.

Occasionally we would take a plain car out & do the same as he drove down the road, turn out the lights & quickly disappear around a corner.

The school boy fun we had. It was nothing dangerous or careless, just bloody good fun. & how our chum suffered.

PCFrankyFact said...

I forgot to mention the times we would drive to adjoining divisions in the Met and track down a patrolling panda, then squirt em with water pistols before fleeing.
I've done the lights out on a car routine a good few times.

Bitseach said...

Hilarious! I've added you to my side-bar - keep swinging that blue lantern!!

Sergeant Simon said...

heh the sledging on shields and car coasting all done. We have a stables on our ground and it has been known to fill a colleagues public order bag / car boot with fresh manure....

Anonymous said...

Years ago, in a Scottish City the new probationer on the shift would be pranked on their first night duty. Nothing cruel but often silly. My favourite was to take the green PC into a large gardens area and line up for a baton throwing competition. As all present drew batons they linked in the strap and of course as all let fly only the young PC's flew off into the night. The later in the shift this was done the better chance there was of them not finding their trusty appointment before walking back to the station to book off. Happy Days.

Anonymous said...

Horse Poo fights outside the police stables in Wood Street nick between C and B division in the City of London Police. It all stopped when the DCI asked if we'd had a visitor from Pegasus the flying horse over the weekend, because there was horse poo on his third floor office window sill! The offenders were caught in no time, CCTV is indeed a double edged sword.....