Livin' in Da Hood II

Rosie and I were walking to her music class this morning. We turned the corner and saw about two dozen police officers and half a dozen police vehicles surrounding two men, one of whom was doubled over in obvious pain. The other one was leaning against a fence with his head hanging down and breathing hard. I heard a police officer say to someone in the police van 'We had to beat the crap out of them.'

I slowed down and an officer came over to us and explained that he would escort us through the area. Of course, being a concerned parent and a police officer's daughter I asked what had happened and was told that the men had tried to hold up the travel agent (travel agent?). I asked if they had been armed and was told that they had knives. 10.30 on a Monday morning and knife-weilding burglars are holding up a travel agent about 500m from our flat. Welcome to London.

After music class the road was still closed so Rosie and I walked into the village. I stopped to talk to the officer at the end of the road, always good to get a second report and see if they match up. They differed only in that the second officer said that the burglars were carrying tasers rather than knives. I guess if I had to choose I would rather be stung than stabbed so this was some comfort. I also learned that it was an organised gang that travelled around and not a local group and no one, aside from the burglars, was hurt. The police must have been following them because there were so many officers out, both in uniform and plainclothes. This was comforting to know too.

The whole village was buzzing with the news. There was crime scene tape all around the travel agent's shop and everyone was trying to guess what happened. I ended up telling the newspaper salesman and the barista at our coffee shop what had really happened. When they asked how I knew I told them that I had stopped and spoken to a couple of police officers. I guess it's unusual to speak to the police in this situation because whenever I said that I had spoken to an officer people looked at me like I was crazy. I seem to get that look a lot.