Harry has a new name…

‘Walker’. That’s what they call him at Breakfast Club. I was very confused until I worked out why.

Here’s the tale.

‘Good morning Walker,’ says Missy, the Breakfast Club leader.

Harry sort of looks embarrassed and mutters ‘Hi.’

I shuffle him over to the sign in sheet. ‘Walker?!’ I giggle. ‘Why are they calling you Walker?’ I am giggling – a lot.

Harry shrugs. ‘I don’t know,’ he mumbles.

‘Have you told them your name is Harry?’ I ask.

‘Yes, but they keep calling me Walker,’ he replies, looking a bit glum and I giggle some more.

And then I realise why Harry is being called ‘Walker’. His name tag, which is in place to ensure a smooth after school pick up, is hanging around his neck and has twisted round. His actual name is at the back, but because he doesn’t take the bus or the car pool and we walk to and from school, Harry is identified by his tag ‘Walker’, which is hanging at the front.

‘Hahahahaha,’ I laugh A LOT (and quite embarrassingly loudly for a five-year old in front of his new friend.)

I tell Missy: ‘His name tag was showing his pick up status and not his name, so I’ve turned it round.’

She looks at the name tag and seems a bit baffled. She takes Harry’s hand. ‘Come on then, Gary,’ she says.

I giggle all the way out the school doors and all the way to work. 🙂

One thing I learnt from this:
1. That ‘Walker’ is a name easily accepted in the USA 😉

Cop dad

There is a dad who does drop off at the same time as me and who is a cop, but doesn’t wear his uniform (to confirm, he does actually wear something – it’s just that its regular clothes, not the police uniform 😉 ).

I know he is a cop because he has a big black car with all sorts of radio stuff on the dashboard, and he has a big old badge and gun hanging off his belt.

I stare at his gun a lot when I am doing Breakfast Club drop off.

You wouldn’t see that in the UK, I think to myself. I want to ask him if I can shadow him during his day’s work. I think I might do that in a few weeks when I’ve got over staring at his gun. Now, hanging out with the cops – that would be interesting….

I want to hang with the HoCoPoPo

Police officer killed

Which leads me on to the sad story that has rocked the neighbourhood of Catonsville, not far from us.

It’s about the murder of a Baltimore County police officer, shot and killed on Wednesday morning while serving a search warrant.

Police Officer Jason Schneider was killed in the line of duty, despite that fact that he did have on a bulletproof vest when he was shot multiple times. One bullet made it through the vest.

One brave cop

Schneider was killed when he and other officers served a warrant at a home on Winters Lane in Catonsville. Apparently the 13-year-veteran had executed such search warrants hundreds of times throughout his career.

Schneider was shot multiple times by Tevon Smith. The story does not finish there – Schneider was able to fire back in self-defense and 25-year old Smith died on Wednesday night.

A sad story for Schneider’s family, the police and the community of Catonsville. Of course, the real culprit here is guns….because two lives were taken in this incident.

Guns

Guns…a recurring theme in my blogs. When there are guns on the street, it seems a wholly good idea for the cops to have them too….doesn’t it?

In the UK police officers do not carry firearms, except in special circumstances. The arming of police in Britain is a perennial topic of debate……. but then, guns are less prevalent in the UK and it’s not easy to get a firearms license.

He could stop that criminal by throwing Evian in his face….

A BBC News article about why police in the UK don’t have guns intrigued me.

However, there is also this clip and article about Mark Kessler, police chief in Pennsylvania, which has caused a bit of outrage.

Guns. They confuse me, America.