hindsight and all

When we were walking around London one day we saw a female police officer (at least I think she was - may have been a meter maid for all I know) walking around and she had the best looking uniform I have ever seen. I debated about asking her if I could take her picture, and now I really wish I had. I thought I'd be able to find a pic of that uniform online, but I've just searched for a ridiculous amount of time and can't find anything just like it. She had the vest (which I think is cool, but a lot of people in England seem to find annoying) and the sort of bowler (? - it had a lower crown than I think of as a proper bowler, so possibly there's another name for it?) hat with the black and white checked band, and white or possibly light gray shirt with very bloused long sleeves and tight cuffs - most of the rest of it I can find representations of, but for some reason the long sleeves aren't showing up that many places, or if they do they don't look near as perfectly bloused as hers did. Perhaps she'd done a little tailoring on her cuffs.

Anyhow, it looked really nice. Not that I'm advocating the return of white shirts in our uniforms, there is nothing more impractical for moving baggage around than white long sleeves and ties - they get filthy and I'm surprised nobody ever keeled of heat exhaustion where I work. (Especially where we're instructed to keep any drinks out of public view.) I shall continue my quest for finding a suitable style of uniform to suggest for our next uniform update. It needs to be not too constricting, not too hot, adaptable for when it's cold, and give people a sense that we're friendly and not servants. Oh, and have space to carry stuff, because frankly I end up with my pockets so stuffed with crap that I can barely move. One of our trainers recommended having a fanny pouch, but our Director immediately banned the use of any such thing as looking unprofessional. I don't disagree, I hate the look of fanny pouches, but couldn't they give us a utility belt with a pouch or cargo pocket pants or something?

(no subject)

Added more to this gallery.

pulling bamboo

I was talking to my brother, Hawk, the other night and when I mentioned the Japanese knotweed he asked if that isn't the stuff that Japanese monks use to meditate on, because if you sit really still and concentrate you can literally watch it grow. And I'm thinking now he might be right. I pulled a double fistful yesterday and did the same again, today. And maybe I just missed them yesterday, but some of them today were nine inches high already. I wonder if it will continue like this forever?