Our radio station is in a nice part of the city. It’s in a beautiful building on Richmond Row, the mecca of London’s downtown shopping and dining spots. Just so you know that what I’m about to describe isn’t a shack in a derelict district of town.
My arrival in the wee hours is pretty mundane. I keep a good eye out for anything or anyone and don’t usually encounter anything odd. I’ve seen the occasional harmless drunk and a critter or two. But on Monday morning there were three guys sleeping on the building’s front steps. They were curled up and as peaceful as if they’d had a nice hot chocolate and Mama read them a story about bunnies frolicking in meadows. There’s a very popular pub in our building and my assumption was that they were sleeping off a little too much to drink. I didn’t have to deal with them but newspapers are delivered for us on that landing and it just isn’t right to use it as a dorm room. So I called the police via their non-emergency number and they were happy to come and get them to move along. It was pretty funny. Like a couple of Dads waking up sleepy teens, except the Dads had uniforms and guns and the “teens” were extremely hung over.
Yesterday morning a loud, little red car zoomed into our parking lot ahead of me. Behind me was another little loud car, a white one, sort of hanging back. It rolled up to the gate and after I exited my vehicle the driver pealed out and took off with a rumble. By this time the red car had parked in the far end of the parking lot near a wooded area. Obviously my unexpected presence had broken up some sort of meeting. I’m assuming they weren’t altar boys convening for a Bible reading.
There is life going on out there in the world while the rest of you are sleeping! I see guys on skateboards, women jogging with their heads down and earbuds in, deer, skunks, raccoons looking for a snack and once in a while, our neighbour in his wheelchair, out for a ride to shake off his insomnia. I’ll bet 99% of it is harmless but I treat it all as if it’s the 1% that’s going to pose a problem. Just in case.