Laughing With The Blues
by
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I hate motorcycles. Always have. I've only been on one twice, and after the second occasion, I vowed never to mount one again, and so far, I've kept that vow.
I've attended too many fights between cars and motorcycles to know that the car nearly always wins.
The first occasion I boarded a motor cycle was when I was about nine years of age. It frightened the crap out of me.
The second occasion was just after I started the job and was allowed to patrol the streets alone. Someone told me we had the power to commandeer vehicles in emergencies, so one night while I was plodding the streets in the Bensham housing area, I received an intruder call not too far from my location. Occupants had disturbed a burglar breaking into their house.
As I received the call, I heard the roar of an engine approaching so I stepped into the road and flagged it down. A bloody motorcycle! I explained to the rider that I needed to get to the far end of the estate as soon as possible and he indicated for me to jump on.
I don't know what it was, but this rider must have thought because he had a Policeman on board, he could break every road traffic law in the book. He revved so hard the tyres left scorch marks on the road and a cloud of blue smoke as we set off. He zoomed along the street at tremendous speed straight across every junction we came to without even slowing. My thighs were clamped hard against the sides and my fingernails must have left holes in the back of his jacket as I held on for dear life.
When we stopped at our destination, there was an overpowering smell of burning rubber. I was a nervous wreck and my legs were like jelly. I could hardly dismount for fear of them giving way under me. Luckily the burglar, who had probably heard us coming, was long gone, because believe me, I wouldn't have stood a remote chance of chasing or capturing him.
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About the Book
Think of a Police Officer and you probably think of words such as strict, serious, authoritive and humourless. You'd be wrong. The job is rife with humour which relieves stress and helps one to forget about some of the horrible things Police Officers deal with on a daily basis. This book is about the humour experienced by a Police Officer over his thirty years of service, both on and off duty. The Police Service is made up of people from all walks of life and contains many strange and wonderful characters who enjoyed a good belly laugh regardless of what they were dealing with. Some stories are seriously funny, some are unbelievably and weirdly funny, but all are factual - they really did happen!
About the Author
Gordon Shepherd served for thirty years as a Police Constable with Northumbria Police. For most of his service he worked as a front line uniformed Officer but also worked in plain clothed departments such as the Criminal Investigation Department (C. I. D.), Shoplifting Squad, Stolen Vehicle Squad and as a Local Intelligence Officer. He was a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trangender Liaison Officer for ten years and a qualified self defence instructor for eight years. His career started at Gateshead in 1976 and in 1985, he moved over the River Tyne to Newcastle City centre. In 1999, he was stationed at Whickham, six miles to the west of Newcastle, where he served the remainder of his service until his retirement in 2006. After retirement from the Police service, Gordon involved himself in family history research and had several articles published in magazines. He has been married to Yvonne for the past thirty years and they have two grown up children.