The material in this blog does not reflect official policy or the opinion of any police force but it does however represent my personal opinion on whatever is posted here.
"The new police recruits. Call them slobs. Call them jerks. Call them gross. Just don't call them when you're in trouble." - Police ACademy, 1984
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"You only have to do a very few things right in your life so long as you don't do too many things wrong" - Warren Buffett
Think Back. Move Forward. It's time.
Monday, 31 December 2007
That message is on the board at The Ground Zero where the Twin Towers once stood. I'm one one for these sort of messages but I somehow found this one very touching and rather sensible. It made me think back to the day when my folks split up and the reasons behind it. It made me think about how difficult I made it for my dad and how I didn't speak with him for over 2 years. I held a grudge against both of my parents for a very long time, too long to tell, and looking back now I can see what a waste of time it was. Life would have been so much easier if I had behaved differently...Anyhow, moving on...what I also found very moving was the display around St Paul's Chapel, opposite The Ground Zero...so moving that I found hard to hold back the tears in there...maybe I was just a little emotional, I don't know. I'm not a religious person at all but I took a moment to light a candle and think about those that gave their lives on that day. Once I had returned to my good old self, after a cup of coffee, I visited the New York City Police Museum and felt like I was at home...There was even a couple of hats that were given to them by our very kind British bobbies...My new profile picture shows the wall where the badges of all NYPD officers killed on duty are displayed, too many of them, unfortunately! I also went to a little 'Irish' pub called Bravest, named in honour of those killed during 9/11, where I had arranged to meet someone I met in the course of my tours. He's a fireman with lots of experience and stories to tell. He lost two close friends in the attacks...He is a lovely bloke and we shared a midnight dance in the subway station, where a busker was playing The Way You Look Tonight...I don't think I'll ever forget that song now! We're supposed to be going out on New Year's Day...let's see what comes out of it.
Last night I decided to go out to mess about with my camera, after I'd watched Avenue Q (terribly funny!). I had put my love for photography aside, what with everything else that's been happening, and I never got a chance to mess with a new digital SLR that I bought quite a few months back so I thought I'd dust the old passion and go out for a few night shots...Unfortunately it wasn't very productive because it was sleeting and very, very cold (and I couldn't be bothered to live through it) so that was me back to my cosy room! Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and I'm not really looking forward to the crowd that I'll find around Times Sq but seeing as I'm here it feels like I have to see the ball drop! Besides, the it's supposed to be made of Swarovski crystals this year so who knows what I might get :-D!!! So it's gonna be a long, tiring, cold and possibly wet New Year's Eve but at least I get to rock'n'roll at Planet Hollywood for the after party!!!
TUPC, what do you mean just to say hello? Not even a quick drink? I am truly offended now!!! Make that your New Year resolution...but stick to it!
So I have had my first day as a tourist (yesterday won't count, I was too tired)! As it was Christmas day I decided to take it easy and enjoy the day in Central Park. The weather was beautiful and the day couldn' have gone better although I misjudged how big the park is and after about 5 hours of walking I had just about covered three quarters of it. Ok I'm a slow walker and I was doing the touristy thing of taking pictures of every stone and tree but it still took me a long time to cover that much. I walked and walked and walked and then I got lost, phoned my mum in Brazil, my dad in Italy and my housemates in London, had a coffee, fed the ducks and walked and walked and walked till I found one of those bicycle tours place to ride me back to where I started because I was tired. I came back to my hotel with the intention of having a shower and then finding somewhere nice to eat something decent...but I had to settle for some fries from McDonalds as everything else was fully booked, damn Christmas day! Tomorrow I'm getting my stab proof gloves ready for when I go back on the beat in the new year and I'm going to see Mamma Mia on the Broadway in the evening...other than that I haven't a clue what else I'll do, not that I don't have options...let's just see what tomorrow brings!
P**S: Santa brought me an Itouch for Christmas...damn I must have been good!!! :-D P**SS: I know the lovely people of England need no more encouragement to call the police (even if it's a case of changing their baby's nappy) but I thought this was really brave of NYPD...I guess it's because they have guns, real guns, so people don't mess with them! P**SSS: MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
I love the festive season but the morning after the night before is always such a struggle and it gets worse the older I get! It didn't seem this difficult last week :-D So over the past ten days my bank account has gone down considerably, my friends network expanded, my list of stupidity has doubled and the lining of my stomach is pretty much non existent but gee, I've had a ball! This also means that I learnt a lot more in class, it seems I do better when I'm hangover.
My training has been going surprisingly well too. We have been doing lots of interesting stuff, getting very confused with the Theft Act and having verious arguments about assaults. We've done search warrants and this week we're covering stop and search powers, Sec. 1, 23, 32, 60, etc...Added to that we have our fitness test on Wednesday, which I'm not doing because I've been signed off our PE classes after a little health hiccup a few weeks ago. This means that I will have to do it on my own in about 8 weeks time, when I'll be fit to run again :-(. On the down side of things we've received four assigments back (out of five) and I failed one so I now have two assignments to hand in by the 21st Jan. I'm not very impressed by the marking system and the feedback is appaling but I've just kept my head down. Best thing to do is just to get on with life.
Moving on to better things I just realised that I fly out on Sunday, 6 days away from heaven!!! I've just looked at the news from New York and the north eastern US states and they are covered in snow!!! I am so dreading the cold weather but am getting really excited about it!
I've been told that I have to grow up now that I turn 21. 'Ba*ls' and 'don't be ridiculous' are the two things I said when I heard that. I have spent an awful long time thinking about the age thing this week and I thought it would be ideal to come up with a list of 21 things for me to do through my 21st year. So in no particular order, here it goes.
1 - Bungee jump 2 - Travel to at least one off the beaten track location 3 - Learn to play the guitar 4 - Buy my own place 5 - Learn to love DIY (I will need to after I've done number 4) 6 - Spend a weekend by the sea 7 - Improve my fitness 8 - Get a dog (I need to love and be loved, you see.) 9 - Stop bitting my nails 10 - Read more 11 - Complete my police training successfully 12 - Donate £21 to a different charity each month 13 - Be nicer to my parents 14 - Watch the film that won an Oscar the year I was born (Platoon - 1986) 15 - Take up kick boxing 16 - Have more faith in myself 17 - Smile more (apparently I have perfect teeth!) 18 - Go to Glastonbury 2008 19 - Hire a caravan and go camping 20 - Make more friends 21 - Lastly, I'll try to do all of the above but failing that I'll make sure that at least half of it gets done!
Name: bawpc Home: London, United Kingdom About Me: I know how to let my hair down, I know when to be responsible, I drink, I party, I understand committment, I dread relationships, I dream and I cry when my dreams don't come true. I'm young, yet grown up, I'm scared yet brave, I'm pretty yet the little ugly duckling, I can love, I know how to hate, I'm passionate, compassionate, impatient, fiery. I share, I talk, I love (again), I like to be on my own, I like companionship. I'm complicated...because I'm only human. See my complete profile
