Advice Please

Because the weather is so unpredictable at the moment and we’ve experienced  some really frosty evenings, when is the right time to plant out your veg? Can anyone suggest when? I have grown some dwarf runner beans and they are now standing about 18inches high, they’re desperate to start climbing poles.

Thanks to my guest writer Jeff, for submitting another true story from many years ago when he was a Metropolitan Police Officer.

An Encounter with Rod

Over my many years working for the Metropolitan Police I’ve spent a lot of Saturday afternoons performing duty at either Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham, Leyton Orient and occasionally Wembley.

In 1977 I had just been promoted to Sergeant when I was sent to Wembley for the international match England v Scotland. We were spread out along the touch line and told to stop spectators encroaching on to the pitch.

Scotland beat England 2 – 1 and at the final whistle the Scottish supporters invaded the pitch in their thousands. They broke one of the goal crossbars and started to dig up pieces of the Wembley turf.

I was waiting for instructions when I got a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Rod Stewart who asked me if I would arrest him if he went onto the pitch for a piece of turf. I said, “Rod why should I pick on you when we can’t do anything about all of that lot.”

He went onto the pitch, got a piece of turf then returned to the terraces, saying “thank you” as he went past.

In the late 1990’s, I was working on a Sage accountancy package for a local business man in Epping when Rod entered to place an order for trophies for his football team.

I took the order and told him that I would pass it on to the owner Phil when he returned.

I met Rod a few times over the next week or so and I reminded him of that day at Wembley. He sat on a workbench and told me that I should have gone into the music business because that is where the money is.

I told him that he would not have said that if he heard me sing! lol