It’s been cold today and Julia has been stopped by the police. Twice. I’m ambivalent about which is the most important thing to lead with. Early winter? My wife’s secret life as a delinquent? Tricky.
Julia went down to the laundrette and was, as I may have mentioned, stopped twice. I may have to stop writing “SWAG” on the laundry bag. The first pair stopped her and asked her name. The second pair stopped her about quarter of mile away and again asked her name. When she was asked the second time she asked why she was being stopped and they said they were looking for a woman answering her description. The description? “Wearing a green top”. Some days you just have to stand back in wonder and admire the complexity of modern policing methods. I mean, all those years of police know-how and training and the best they can do is ask “May I ask your name?” On the second stop she nearly said “Yes.” just to see how things would go. But being a good and sensible citizen, she told them without sarcasm. It seems that they were looking for woman who had been reported missing.
It wasn’t me. I’d registered she was taking longer than usual but she’d made bacon sandwiches before going out and I was writing, so the quiet time was a bonus. I know how to use a kettle so it’s unlikely I’d have considered her “missing” until the washing up bowl became full.
Meanwhile, and more seriously, I hope they find the missing woman
. Unfortunately, despite all the news on the internet, they never seem to report things like that.
Today I am using two relatively sophisticated photographs of Julia.


Sorry but I couldn’t help but chuckle as I read this….
It’s hard not to. 🙂
Actually asking Julia her name was the right question for a possibly missing woman. My son Michael was once jumped on silently because he answered a description
That would be more alarming.
Same thing happened to me. In the early 70s. A little girl went missing from Scunthorpe. I was on a bike ride near Louth with my brother. The police stopped us in case I was her. She has never been found but every now again they make a fresh appeal. I hope they found the lady.
It must be awful to keep wondering what happened.
Did they find your lady?
We don’t know – things like this don’t seem to make the news. I do hope so. If something bad happened they would probably announce it.
True.
Poor Julia! We had sheriffs show up here once because they thought we owned pigs. Some had escaped and they had chased them into our place. Turns out they belonged down the street. The pigs escaped on their first night at their new home. I guess they knew what was coming later on.
Yes, pigs are very intelligent. If they were really smart they would evolve to taste less delicious. My parents had cows, donkey, horses and a hot air balloon in their garden/orchard.
You will have to tell readers more about the hot air balloon. 🙂
It’s very dull, but I will do so later today.
My new phone is too too much information for an old bloke.
Definitely! I want a phone and I can cope with texts. That’s enough.
Poor Julia! It’s bad enough having to do the washing without all that hassle! I do sympathise about the phone and no signal. We are having the same problem with this internet phone system that was forced on us.
I quite like mobile phones as they are convenient. But they are trying to do too much. My new one has actually connected itself to the internet without me asking it to. But it can’t take a simple call from Julia.
Well, that added an element of excitement to the day.
It gave us something to talk about, as did the phone failure . . . 🙂
It is good to hear of police trying to be actively helpful even if it did discommode Julia. Did they smile at her when they asked her name. In my experience, they always seem to try to be frightening even when asking innocent questions. Too much watching Starsky and Hutch perhaps.
She rang me eight times to pick her up from the launderette as the washing was wet, and my phone didn’t pick up so she walked back with homicidal intentions. The police were, for me, a welcome distraction. Not keen on this new phone. It also highlighted the problem with having the landline removed.