-16

i remember being stopped by the police.
my first choice of careers was to be a policeman – colour blindness put a stop to that. you can imagine then that i have a lot of sympathy for the boys in blue. i do. however that hasn’t stopped them stopping me in the street.
there was the time when a bunch of plain clothes coppers decided to take a group of us to one side at liverpool street station because they thought we had been smoking (gasp) pot. that they couldn’t actually keep up with the scallywags in question had nothing to do with it. instead of the younger and thinner crew they missed they settled for the next best thing: a bunch of blokes who were ambling by liverpool street station. we were searched and questioned. i don’t think we got an apology when they were done. i did get a stop and search report that described me as having long white hair. i was tempted to sue for defamation.
as i wander around london with my camera i am a potential suspect in the eyes of many policeman (i am a photographer – not a terrorist)) yet even when i set the alarms off in downing street resulting in the approach of an armed response copper i have found being polite is all that is required.
my camera almost got me into trouble on my first visit to runcorn.
i had stupidly managed to book myself into a hotel as far away from where i needed to be as possible. not to worry runcorn isn’t that big a place so it wouldn’t be too hard to walk from there to where i wanted to be. it was a plan. it was scuppered the moment i had it. i asked the hotel staff if they had a map of the local area. they looked at me as if i were the village idiot. i asked for directions. they were not very clear. not that it mattered as i soon forgot them.
camera in hand i set out on my mission.
clicking here and there as i went i soon realised that i was lost. not only was i lost but there were no one out and about for me to ask where i was and how i need to get to where i want to be. i found myself on a large long road on one side there was a large field, the other side a long row of houses. snap. click. snap. click. i might be lost but i can still take photos. on the field there is a tractor doing some work there is a little mist in the air. in my mind it is a good photo (it turned out to be shit). there is not a person in sight. i am getting worried now as i need to find someone in order to find out where i am.
it is like some very post apocalyptic movie where i am the only person left alive. true this is a vision that is ruined by the very occasional car that drives by.
i keep walking – i’ll find a shop soon. won’t i?
i can see a car coming towards me; it is slowing down and it stopping ahead of me. all i can think is ‘don’t ask me directions as i am lost’. out jump two plain clothes (sort of) policemen, they would have been plain clothes except for the prominent stab jackets with police in big letters on them. ‘mmmm’ i think.
they approach me. they ask me what i have been taking photos of. i tell them ‘nothing in particular’ i explain to them i am here to check out the area to see if i want to move here for work. they inform me that the field i was walking next to was a school playing field. ‘oh’ i say (a witty and clever response from me). i wanted to say it is a very empty and unmarked school playing field but i didn’t. i show them the pictures i have taken. they don’t compliment me on my clever compositions. they run my name through their database. i am clean. they tell me they are just doing their job and responding to a call from a local concerned citizen (or a bored busybody with nothing better to do than give the stranger in town a hard time). i tell them not to worry.
i ask them how to get to runcorn old town. they tell me to go across the road, down through the park and at the bottom of the path there is a main road and you can catch a bus from there.
i thank them and make my way to the bus stop. the mission is back on track.
the path they directed me to? ran between two schools both teaming with children.
i guess were coppers with a sense of humour. i put my camera away in its carry bag.
better safe than sorry!