Fireman Sam

Actually I don't know what his name was but he was very good at sliding down the pole. The new photo group asked me if I would mind taking some photos at the town's Fire Station Open Day for a CD they are compiling so along I went today. I got a tour of the small station and saw some very thrilled little boys 'driving' the fire engine. I was hoping that the fire fighters would be doing some training exercises so I could get some action shots but not today, however I did manage to persuade one of them to slide down the pole for me (twice, because I missed it the first time!) but he refused to put his hat on while he did it. They were all very friendly and eager to show me around and tell me about the job, which was fascinating but I was surprised and a little perturbed to find out that the station is only manned during office hours, so if you have and emergency during evenings and weekends the fire fighters are paged and rush to the station from their homes, which completely shattered my preconceptions. Having said that I have a huge admiration for anyone prepared to put themselves in such dangerous situations to help others, all in the line of duty, I think they are exceptionally brave - I certainly wouldn't have the courage to do it :-))