I purchased a samurai umbrella as mentioned here. Last weekend l had the opportunity to road test it. On Sunday l got a taxi to the train station. I was dressed casual in jeans and had a small rucksack and carried the umbrella in my hand. l stopped outside the train station for a cig and a member of the public who was also smoking advised me to carry the 'sword' in a bag. l told him it was an umbrella and he laughed ... then asked where l got it from.Inside the train station there were 3 policeman stood together so l walked right in front of them and to go to WH Smiths. There was no reaction from them so when l came back l walked past them again ... still no reaction. Boarded the train and put the umbrella next to me so it was clearly visible. No reaction from the train staff.
Arrived Kings Cross station and had to wait an hour and a half for my daughter arriving. There were a number of police there as is always the case. l strolled about, drank coffee, went outside for a cig (twice) ... no reaction from police or train station staff. 2 members of public did comment like the one at the train station where l set off from.
Daughter arrived and went to take tube to Earls Court, passed 2 policemen at entrance ... no reaction. A passenger on tube train did comment about it. Left Earls Court past station staff ... no reaction. Got picked up by my brother and that was the end of the day.
Next day l went walkng around London all day with the umbrella ... Oxford Circus, Covent Garden, Embankment, Kings Road, Westminster. Result was same as previous day, despite passing many policemen and security staff ... no reaction. However quite a few members of the public did comment on how l shouldn't carry a samurai sword in public, when l explained it was an umbrella they all wanted to know where l got it from.
Next day took daughter to Stansted Airport via tube and train. Waited till she'd checked in and then returned by train and tube to Kings Cross station. Waited 2 hours for my brother as he was catching same train back home with me as his week 'on' working in London had finished. Arrive home station where me and my brother parted. l decided to walk to my daughters where my car was. l walked through the busy shopping centre and right through a group of 7 security staff and proceeded to carry on walkng to the busy main road to my daughters house.
Through all of this, never once was l stopped and asked about the samurai 'sword' by anyone in a uniform ... not once! lt's as though l was invisbile to them and cctv although not to members of the public. As l said previously, l was dressed very casually and was even wearing my Palestinian scarf. l made no effort to conceal the umbrella at anytime ... it was clearly visible. l lost count of the number of police etc l passed, some within touching distance
Maybe the police, PCSO's and security have x-ray eyes that can tell it's an umbrella and not a samurai sword? ... although one member of the public who stopped me in Covent Garden saw it as a samurai sword and he was a martial arts expert and collected samurias!
Next time l go l'm taking a table leg in a`plastic bag!
lol youre crazy SH. theyre trained not to see danger and avoid it all costs.
ReplyDeleteYou need to be unarmed to get their attention and obviously you weren't in their eyes. :)
ReplyDeleteDoesn't surprise me at all
ReplyDeleteWalter
ReplyDeleteMitty
Great
ReplyDeleteAnon 09.37 - try reading it!
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that the police aew aware of these umbrellas but the public arent?
ReplyDeletePlease forgive me, I almost credited the police with some intelligence there. Oops ;-)
Only time will tell, Bucko :) lncidentally, my daughter who is a photographer was taking photos all over London with her pro camera. We'd heard many stories about photograpers being stopped taking photos but no such thing occured. The umbrella served it's real purpose for taking it during the rain showers. :-)
ReplyDeleteTaking photos aswell !!! you're lucky to be alive, young man.
ReplyDeleteWhat SH hasn't mentioned, is how disappointed he was! Obviously, he had the recorder running, hoping to upstage my Customs gig! :-)
ReplyDeleteDon't imagine that it'll end there. He's still got the sambrella.
Of course, if he gets pulled by any well-trained, professional guardians of our security, there won't be anything funny to report. But if one of the "small minority" of incompetent jobsworths tries it...