Man Hunt

The helicopter circled above the treetops. The heat imaging cameras searched the bushes and undergrowth hundreds of feet below. People from the local houses came out into the streets and stared towards the sinister profile silhouetted in the sky against the late evening twilight.....
What is it searching for, they collectively thought.... An absconded prisoner from the nearby open prison, or perhaps a confused patient from the local hospital........

Nope. It was looking for me.

I'd been out earlier that evening to the local park and woods to get some (hopefully) stunning sunset photos. I was carrying my two trusty Olympus cameras, one loaded with black and white, the other colour. I also carried my Benbo tripod (other tripods are available as the B.B.C would say), the make of tripod is significant in the fact that instead of normal square section silver legs, the legs are round. Matt black and round.

I can imagine the phone call that sparked the hunt..

Caller: There's a man with a shotgun over the 'Rec'  taking pot shots from the bushes....

Operator: Are you sure Sir? positive it wasn't a walking stick..

Caller: No.....No..... definitely a gun. You need to send a S.W.A.T team.

Operator: We don't have S.W.A.T teams in the U.K I'll see what I can do to get it investigated. Click brrrrrrr.

The next day the local the local paper carried a report similar to following -
Yesterday evening, the Police helicopter was scrambled following reports of a man carrying a shotgun in the local park. The man is described as a White male, mid 20's, blonde hair and wearing a red sweat shirt and blue jeans.... Anyone with information please call xxxxxxx

Guess how old I was at the time and what I was wearing the night before.

I rang the number.

Me: Errrr.... Last night the bloke with the gun.


Officer (This was in the days when a policeman answered the phone when you rang the local police station): Yes....

Me: It was me...

Officer: Is that a confession Sir?

Me: It's a confession of me carrying a tripod instead of a shotgun, but yes it was me.

Officer: We need your address please as we may need to see the tripod.

I gave my address.. No one ever came to check it out though... Government cutbacks I assume.....