During those nights, especially in the week, there would be an initial flurry of calls after the pubs kicked out and the wives were beaten by their drunken husbands, the occasional early morning burglary or theft of motor vehicle, by about 3am, things usually calmed down and I had to find things to do to stay alert and busy.
There is only so many keyholder updates and 'beekeepers willing to collect swarms' files you can update in the middle of the night so, many of us took to bringing our hobbies to work for the wee small hours.
One colleague used to do her home accounts, one would sleep (BigMac), some would read and a couple might go up to the canteen and play pinball or look for coins under the vending machines (always leaving the Divisional Control Room manned - of course).
In 1992, on nights, I started a patchwork quilt. Hand cut hexagons of coloured fabric, hand sewn onto hand cut hexagons of cardboard, these were then hand stitched together to form larger shapes. Eventually after 4 years of night shifts, I had created a double bed sized patchwork sheet. I changed jobs, put the quilt away, then 20 years later, last week, put it together with wadding and a cotton back sheet and finally finished it.
I hope it will become an heirloom, there's a lot of love and history in that there quilt, when I look at it I don't see a comforter, I see the police officers I worked with, the 'jobs' I sent them on, the danger they were placed in and the camaraderie we shared. The Police take a lot of criticism, and sometimes rightly so, there are good and bad 'employees' in every work place, the Police are no exception. I am proud to say I worked alongside them and to my knowledge I and they always did 'the right thing'.
Here's to my 20 yr old quilt!
