Now she's calm, looking smart and making thousands.

The G20 protests have once again hit the press today, along with the critism of the police's handling of it. It's very interesting reading this now, after doing my security and physical intervention course this weekend, i've been taught all the procedures and techniques which the police use so in a way I look at things like this situation very differently. The PC involved in the apparently "assault" has today been charged by the CPS with assault and is being taken to court.

Take a look at the above video which around about 22 secs shows the incident starting. The unemployed, benefit seeking woman from Brighton is twice told to "Step Back", and being warned about her behaviour. She continues to swear and shout abuse at the police officer, and also pushes him at one point. You're taught in your physical intervention course that you should use reasonable and minimum force, and you're allowed to strike the first blow if you feel threatened. This woman entered the officers "intimate space" having already been warning twice about her behaviour, she continued to be aggresive, what does she think is going to happen.

The back hand which the officer uses is a technique which is an initial way of getting someone to back off, I do not think he deliberately went for her face, I think this was an accident. Even after this she continued to be aggressive and abusive to this officer, so his next option was either his CS spray or the batton, he went for the batton. At this point she gets the message.

Personally I believe this woman should be issued with a section 5 public order for her behaviour. The officer now has to explain the situation to a jury, explain why he thought that the force he used against this woman was reasonable and minimum. The woman was warned twice before force was used, and she ignored the warnings, maybe she'll think again next time. It's better to be heard by 12 than carried by 6. I'm not going to get into my opinions of this woman, I will just say that I think she should get a job and do something more worthwhile, but i'm sure she's made enough to keep her going for a few years from her stories in the papers.

On another note, why the hell is Scott Mills on Radio 1 starting to play christmas songs, I swear the next one he plays i'll be writing a complaint to the beeb. It's too bloody early, and ruins the spirit of it all.

A softy at heart

It's rare that something as heart wrenching as this makes me want to do an immediate blogpost but this quite touched me just now. I was driving back having done a few errands, when I drove past a old woman standing outside her house with what I presume was a friend of hers, clearly looking quite distressed. Lying in her arms, was this black and white cat, the cat looked quite worse for wear, in fact I'd say there was very little life in it. In a matter of seconds, i'd pretty much confidently established that this was probably a little old lady who's best friend was this little creature, and she was in the process of losing it.

I've got two cats, both of which I annoy till the cows come home, but both of which I am quite fond of and wouldn't like to lose (i'm sure they feel very differently). It is amazing how we can get so close to animals, and how we can build so many strong bonds with them, I guess when we get older, these animals are our best friends, the creatures we see on a daily basis, the ones that no matter how sad we get or how much we annoy them, they'll still come and cuddle up on your lap on a cold winters evening. For this woman, I guess it was like losing a relative. Of course, I could be totally wrong with all of this, as I say I only saw what I saw for a matter of seconds as I drove past. Hopefully I am wrong and all is well.

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day for yesterday too :)

The NSPCBR called to say i'm neglecting you.

The NSPCBR being...National Society for the Protection against Cruelty of Blog Readers, and no they don't exist. Sorry, it's been like 12 days since I last updated, which in all honesty isn't that long, but even so thought I should update. Times are changing swiftly, work things are changing, I think the next few months could be very interesting, don't want to say too much in case of jinxing things, but i'm looking forward to it. Was at the Pavilion Theatre in Rhyll recently, where the above photo was taken. This amused me and got posted on twit pic, sat on the prompt desk in a box behind a glass panel which read "In case of showbiz emergency, break glass". I imagine this little friend comes out when the Chuckle Brothers and Britains Got Talent arrive, neither of which in the same show of course.

If you're on twitter then follow me, it's www.twitter.com/astreather, and if you're not, then why not? There's something about twitter, when I first joined I thought it was a load of crap and a waste of time, so shoved it to one side for nearly a year. But then it came big again and I thought i'd give it a go, and now i'm hooked, almost as though it's some kind of drug that i'm not addicted to. Love it!

Derren Brown deserves a mention for predicting the lottery. All these people coming up with stupid guesses of how he did it are seriously making me laugh, it's all over the papers and the internet. I personally don't think he did it the way he said he did, through the whole "Wisdom of the Crowds" solution. The technical person in me, having worked on a number of Brown's shows, says that all this split screen stuff is bollocks and he wouldn't have done it. A little part of me just thinks that maybe, just maybe, he might have fixed the machine and put heavier balls in place of the others. As with alot of things, I guess we'll never know, and maybe that's what makes it so great. It's got people talking anyway! This week he controls the nation, i'm away so I really hope this thing works on 4OD when I get back or I will be gutted.

Feeling pretty rotten at the moment, come down with a spout of the man flu, think i'm at the tail end of it which is good news. Haven't told many people because someone is bound to go off on one and decide that i've got Swine Flu and I shouldn't be working etc. etc. Complete media hyped bollocks as usual, which the beeb are still going on about, tonight it's their Panorama special about Swine Flu. Seriously???? I'll be watching the footie with a cold magners and chocolate covered raisins.

I'll leave you on this final note: "Don’t do anything you are not prepared to explain to a paramedic."

The Lakes, Walking Sticks, and the London Astoria

It's taken me ages to get round to doing this blog post, I haven't actually been particularly busy, I just haven't found the time to do it. I guess lazyness comes into it somewhere, but in my defence, I have just spent a week climbing mountains (evidence above to all those non believers!).

It was a good week, the weather did deteriorate, and it started to piss it down on about 3 of the days meaning I couldn't do everything that I wanted to do but achieved the most important thing on the first day, and that was Helvellyn and Striding Edge. If you're into this sort of thing and ever get the chance, you have to do Helvellyn via Striding Edge, it's a excellent thrill which does involve a certain amount of rock climbing and scrambelling towards the end of the ridge but once you get to the top you realise why you've just worked so hard to reach it, and thats evident in the photo below.

I speak alot about this climb because it was very memorable and something that I feel was a great achievement, but we did other walks during the week when it wasn't raining. I'm quite glad the rain is coming, summer gets tedious and hot by the end, there gets a stage for me when wind and rain is a welcome occurance. Many people will disagree with this, but I prefer Autumn and Winter to Summer. So about what the weather is doing now, but saying that it's gonna warm up from tomorrow.

What do you do on a rainy day? Lose at pillow fighting to a little kid, mind you, there's really not much you can do while there's a 2 year old sitting on your head!! Speaking of being a kid, ever since I started walking in the Lakes I always collected walking stick mounts. I collected a stick from the woods, carved it out and made it shine, and every time I visited a place or climbed a mountain I'd gain a little badge to go on this walking stick. To this day I've still got it, and I took it to the Lakes with me. But to be disappointment it became evident that these walking stick badges are no longer sold. You can get them on ebay, but none of any of the Lake District Mountains, if anyone has any idea where I can get these from then please let me know!!! I'd be very interested to find out whats happened to these.

On a final note, I only just learnt yesterday that the London Astoria is about to be demolished. The former pickle factory was an intermitate 2000 capacity music venue, and one my favourite venues around. It's hosted everyone from the Rolling Stones to Oasis to The Beach Boys. An absolute shame to see it go, i'm gutted. RIP the London Astoria...