I denied it! It wasn’t me!
Well, actually that wasn’t what they asked. It was about the nerve agent poisoning of the Skripals who live up the road and round the corner. This was nearly 4 weeks after the attack so there was little hope of me remembering anything in detail. I could remember a bit as it was just after it had snowed so it was possible to remember what I had been doing on the Saturday and Sunday, which was one thing I was asked. They also wanted to know my name, date of birth, mobile phone number, whether I had any other devices with SIM cards, my car type and number and colour, did I know the neighbours, had I had any visitors or deliveries on the 3rd or 4th of March and had I seen anyone I didn’t know? The last was impossible – I am always seeing people I don’t know going passed the house so wouldn’t notice especially. I also got the car type a bit wrong!
The other thing they asked was would it be OK if they wanted to search my garden. It is a bit late – I have collected leaves and put them in the Green Bin and had it emptied twice since then!
For two weeks after the cordon was put up, we had Welsh police during the day and they got to know us. There has been a lot of activity up the road for the last two weeks with more police who change every week – or the ones from Avon and Somerset, every day. We had some from Cambridgeshire and from Northumberland, then Devon and Cornwall and more Welsh. I think there were some others but I have lost track as there are so many more to talk to! They have cordoned off the children’s play park and have stationed police at the bottom of the road by me, guarding the back path. At the top of the road there have been between 2 and 4 “Incident Response” ambulances, up to 11 police vans and also police cars and other police obviously involved in the investigation – or something. There are sometimes lots in black clothing wearing baseball hats with POLICE written on. It does make going up the road difficult at times – negotiating the vehicles in a fairly narrow road. I nearly managed to run over 3 of the black clad men…..
Then one day we had……
……along with…..
…..and the normal car for the police who are guarding the back path, all just outside my house. They had also blocked off the back path and put up screens. They seemed to be searching the woods and path – no doubt for the container that held the nerve agent.
It was unfortunate that it was raining and I had walked from town and wanted to go up the path at the time. I went through the back woods on the very muddy path and the policeman at the top let me go when I begged him just to let me get home and told him he could watch me do so if he wanted! They opened the path again about an hour later.
It is all becoming quite wearing, when we have to negotiate large vehicles and when each new batch of police want some ID – which I don’t always have with me, especially if I am going to the gym. The reason I talk to them on my way out is in the hope that I will be recognised when I return. Sometimes one just has to give one’s name and address but it would be nice to go out or return home without having to check in with the police.
So? The policeman who interviewed me looked about 16! Isn’t that a sign of old age? He himself admitted that he had a baby face, though.