Happy Birthday Mum...

Today you would have been 79.

I was thinking about you on Friday and your upcoming birthday and how difficult I find the day, when in popped a message from my second cousin Graham telling me that you had appeared before him on TV that morning on Good Morning Britain!  He included a photo that he'd snapped on his phone (extra) that showed your photo in the background as the current Commissioner of the Met, Cressida Dick, was being interviewed. I think he almost choked on his cornflakes!  

I assumed it was just your photo that had been used in the Good Morning Britain segment celebrating 100 years of women in The Met, so when I downloaded the programme on catch-up tv this afternoon (to take a photo of your photo in the background for today's blip) I was gobsmacked to find they had covered the story of you rescuing the baby and his dad including archive film footage.  What a gift to send me on your birthday.  Thank you :-))

As I sat watching the footage of 24 year old you, my pride in you threatened to overwhelm me again, as it has done so many times, and I pondered over what your reaction would have been at this latest resurgence of your act of courage all those years ago.  I came to the conclusion that you would have been highly amused, quietly chuffed and slightly embarrassed.  You would have commented on your hair (saying you'd gone overboard with the French combing) or told me a story about one of the police men in the photo with you.  It's unlikely you would have even mentioned what you actually did that day, as you never understood the fuss, always believing you did what anyone would have done in the circumstances, but I know that's not the case.  What you did was amazing.  

But above all else you would have been so proud that the Met is celebrating 100 years of women in the force and the fact the current Commissioner is a woman, along with pride in your female colleagues and the part you all played in blazing the trail for those who came after you.

And I can just imagine how much we would have laughed watching Scot Squad together :-)))