It's not all cones and signs

I was reminded again today of what the general perception of my job is.....doing nothing all the time

Now I won't pretend that I physically work any harder than anyone else, I won't pretend that I always work particularly hard, but it all comes down to your definition of difficult

Is helping a lone female stuck at the side of the motorway (statistically the most dangerous place to be - I seem to recall a figure being thrown around that you were safe for an average of 11 minutes on the hard shoulder, I don't believe this, but it's far from safe) by changing her wheel difficult...no, generally it's not, is removing that person from a dangerous, vulnerable position to a place of safety and comfort a worthwhile activity, I would say yes

Is stopping the motorway to remove a dead deer or lorry exhaust, or roof box, or metal joist (or, or, or) difficult, not really, but is it worthwhile. Most cars will collide with most of those things without suffering drastically, but what about a motorbike, what about the car that takes evasive action to avoid it and hits a barrier, or a lorry, or even a pedestrian.....is it just an inconvenience then

What about resuscitating someone at the roadside, brushing up someone's teeth when they've been scalped after coming off their motorbike, dealing with family members that have heard about a crash that arrive to find their loved ones seriously injured, watching someone get hit by a car doing 70mph and thrown 50m down the road.....or dealing with the aftermath of a young woman (mistaken for a shop mannequin) that's been ripped apart by various cars because she was in such a state of depression that leaving her family at home and walking out on to a motorway seemed like the only way out....is that difficult, yes it's fucking difficult

Maybe we laugh about watching a bit of tv, having a snooze and even doing a bit of shopping because we're bloody glad that that's all we've had to do that day

I appreciate that this won't change most people's opinions of what we (my colleagues and I) do, but please appreciate that sometimes it's about more than throwing out a few cones and standing with our hands in our pockets

Apologies that this isn't my usual poor attempt at humorous writing, but it just summed up how I was feeling today

On a slightly lighter note, I shall leave you with someone that may have their priorities wrong, a Taliban mistake, and the way of contacting the Dark Knight when you only have a vegetable

Bye bye for now












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