Category: Kids
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The new HT reviewed the security camera video and found the scooter! Hoorah! John Reese has been dispatched to apprehend the suspect and serve him some summary justice!
Person of Interest 101: davidmarsden.info
Person of Interest 101
The voicemail asked me to call 101 and quote my call reference number.
It took three attempts to get through to a human being. I guess they really are all busy dealing with emergencies.
“‘Ello, ‘ello, ‘ello. What is the nature of your call today?” (Why do police officers always talk like this?)
“I reported a crime online yesterday. I got a text and voicemail asking me to quote my call reference number…”
“Is that Mr Marsden?”
“Why, yes it is!” (Impressive detective work!)
“I’m afraid the online reporting form isn’t very helpful. It sends the information to us in a way that makes it difficult to understand what actually happened. Just give me a minute while I go through it.”
[A full five minutes on hold later…]
“Hello sir. You want to report the theft of your son’s scooter?”
“Yes, that’s correct.” (By now I wanted to report the theft of what little hope I’d had left when I started dialling the call.)
“Does the school have any cctv footage?”
“Yes, they do, but they haven’t reviewed it yet, as far as I know.”
[Another five-minute intermission.]
“We’ll need to take a statement from you and your son. The earliest I can visit you is next Friday between 8 and 9 a.m., or 12 and 1 p.m.?”
“My son will be either going to school or already at school during those times.”
“What about next Saturday?”
“Yes, that would be better. My only concern is that, by then, we will have lost not only his scooter, but what little chance there was of ever getting it back or finding out what happened to it. When I was growing up, the police would have just visited the school…”
“Yes, same here. Unfortunately, we can’t just go into schools these days. But don’t worry - this case won’t just be sitting on my desk.”
Somewhere out there, Finch and Reese are watching every camera feed in New York, saving lives in real time with the help of an all-seeing AI.
Meanwhile, in my corner of the UK, a ten-year-old’s scooter vanishes in broad daylight, and the only Machine involved is caller id at the local police station.
“OK. Thank you, officer.”
Reported the theft of my kid’s bike to the school (in person and by email) and to the police (online).
The school has some cctv, but seems reluctant to review the video - historical precedent suggests that it’s unlikely to reveal what happened.
The police left a voicemail asking me to call back to arrange to give a statement (not that there’s really anything else I can add). On calling back, a 15 minute conversation (mostly on hold) resulted in confirmation that my lad’s bike has indeed been stolen. The earliest the police can take a statement is a week on Saturday.
Someone took big kid’s new scooter from the bike store at school yesterday. I was hoping it was some kind of mistake or even a prank and it would be returned today. But nope.
Big kid sat his first SATs test yesterday and has more this week. He started a journal recording the process. One of his entries from yesterday had me in stitches, bearing in mind his struggles with maths.
My new revision partner helped me with decimal addition and subtraction. I also have 25% extra time on every test if I want. And by my calculations I have a 90% chance of passing my first SPaG.
The “original” Pump Dot IO song recreated, not reimagined.
Pump your life in and out of your friends!
Potatoes doing well.
These meetings are usually as dry as a bone. This one was unexpectedly raw and bloody.
Trustees meeting tonight. Must be a few years since we had an evening meeting. In person, too.
En fin, la pièce de la résistance. Another “original”. Not for the fainthearted. DREAM JOB TRAJECTORY.