I recall an occasion when a couple of friends and I were walking slowly up a footpath which was sheltered by trees on both sides. It ran away at right angles from a quiet road, between two farm fields, ending in an area of mixed woodland and scrub, a wild area surrounded by more farmland. The path was fairly well hidden from the houses on the opposite side of the road, and meeting another person there was a rare thing indeed. All three of us were carrying air rifles, which we had uncovered shortly after we entered the path. When we were about a hundred yards up the path, we heard a squeal of tires as a car came to an emergency stop, doors flew open and four plain clothed policemen raced up the path towards us. I have no idea whether they were armed or not, nor why they had appeared so suddenly. They didn't arrest us or confiscate our guns, but we were made to discharge them into the ground and present them to the officers for inspection, then re-bag them, names and addresses were taken....and chastened, we were sent off home. And that was close on fifty years ago. Back then we had never heard of the towns of Dunblane or Hungerford, let alone what would occur there in years to come, so were were puzzled by the actions of the police.
They most certainly were more innocent times, and that occasion was the first time anything like that had ever happened to us. However, perhaps that was evidence that even back then, times were changing, heading towards the situation we have now. I know I will now be accused of viewing the past through rose tinted glasses....but I really do look back to my early years and yearn for that lost innocence, that slower time....even if the cracks had started to appear.
Cheers, Dave.