Wednesday 30 December 2009

The season of good-will

So with the festive season comes a fair amount of good-will, generally combined with the Christmas Drink-Drive campaigns.

So it brings to mind a few people that I stopped on the roads on Christmas eve 2007...

One guy was driving through a little country village way too fast, I wasn't in a position to get him for speeding but figured that he could be educated the hard way. I stopped the car and told him that I'd stopped him because of the excessive speed that he was travelling at through the last village. (It was about 6pm so it was quite dark of course and he hadn't seen me behind him).

The guy immediately protested and I explained that because it was Christmas I wasn't going to give him a ticket for speeding, just a bit of a friendly warning (this is while he's standing beside the car shivering as I talk to him - I'm cold as well but don't let it show) and I explain that as I had stopped him for a moving traffic offence I was also going to require him to provide me with a specimen of breath (to perform a roadside breath test) to which the guy looked a little shocked so I explained that as it was Christmas eve every car stopped was being breath tested anyway...

Of course the breath test was negative (no alcohol in his breath) but I dragged out our meeting a little longer by explaining why I didn't want him speeding around on Christmas Eve or any other evening and after spending a good 10 or more minutes with the driver I said to him "If you had been doing the proper speed through the village of ******* I wouldn't have wasted 10 minutes of your time - it just goes to show that speeding will end up with you losing more time than if you'd been driving properly in the first place..." to which the guy nodded and smiled, wished me a merry christmas and he went on his way a little more sedately...

I don't know exactly how that driver felt with how he was treated by Southernshire Constabulary on that evening - what I do know is that I might have prevented another accident which would destroy someones Christmas entirely and I may have saved a life.. I did the nicest thing possible and gave the guy a warning for his speed instead of points on his licence and a large loss of money.. I sometimes wonder if it had the desired effect over the longer term or just that one instance but by and large it made ME feel better being as it was Christmas.

I hope that you have ALL have a wonderful, safe, and Merry Christmas and that you will all remain safe and have a Fantastic New Year.. Stay away from the roads if you are drinking, enjoy the time you have with your family and try not to create another time consuming domestic dispute, if you feel like arguing with your partner then go for a walk for 20 minutes then go back and talk with a level head.

Stay Safe.

Happy New Year!

Monday 14 December 2009

And onwards and upwards with Holiday Cheer... etc, et-al.

So while I'm off on my annual vacation, sunning it up in much warmer climes I thought I'd pop in to an internet cafe, see if there was any publisher emails saying hey, write a book about something weird for us etc, and see if there were any comments (I had a few to publish and a few to delete)...

But as I'm off for several more weeks I figured I'd take this opportunity to say... (and stuff those who think it's inappropriate because I don't give a damn!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

HO! HO! HO! (damnit)


(What do you think of my Santa suit? Sadly it's not stab proof (or water proof))




AND FOR ALL THE NON FESTIVE PEOPLE---> Bah Humbug! :-)