Queuing for train tickets at Ealing Broadway station is an immersion of the senses into a kaleidoscopic barrage of sights and sounds. Although I normally have my MP3 player blasting out most of the ambient aural sensations - the visual haze is often punctuated by selective focus on things that matter the most. Normally these are things like the next available ticket cashier - or the TV screens displaying the imminent train departures.
For the last few months however, there is a particular A4-sized poster that catches my attention whilst waiting in the queue for tickets. It’s a poster by the local Police - strategically pasted to the side of a ticket machine - advertising a reward for tracking down the suspect in a murder case from January this year. I have gazed at this poster almost every day for the last few months - as I stand there waiting in the queue for the next available cashier.
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For every new day that I see it - I think to myself that the suspect must still be at large. I often stare at the face of the reconstructed image of the suspect - and I wonder if he will ever be caught. The poster has been there for so long now - the inevitable graffiti has now started to deface the image of the suspect. In some strange sort of way - this leads me to resign myself into a belief that the suspect will never be caught.
Posted by jag at July 13, 2004 10:26 PMReminds me of the James Ellroy book called My Dark Places. Murderer cannot be found as he slips into the world undetected, the job of the detective solving a murder is far from the world of television and Sherlock Holmes, DNA etc.
Posted by: Ginch on July 14, 2004 01:06 AMOn a lighter note do you have a good recipe for chicken vindaloo?
Posted by: Bugs on July 14, 2004 02:29 AMGinch: I haven’t read the James Ellroy book - thx for the tip - I’m getting fed up of my MP3 player now - I think I need to get stuck into a book!
Bugs: Made me laugh! Actually I don’t have a recipe for chicken vindaloo - never made it before - but I understand that it’s a combination of potato and chicken. To be honest with you - it’s not really an Indian dish as such - i.e. not the sort of thing that Indians cook at home. I know you can get this in some UK Indian restaurants - and also on the shelf at the supermarket - but I’ve never tried it before. I will try having a go soon - and will post the result up here! Cheers!
Posted by: Jag on July 14, 2004 08:52 AMThey can probably take it to the next level. Air him on the “England’s most wanted” or something to that effect.
Not to scare you or anybody, but for every wanted poster, there are about a thousand other wanted persons whose never come on the posters.
Thankyou . I look forward to your posting of the vindaloo recipe. I hope its kamikaze hot with a fire extinguisher on standby.
Posted by: Bugs on July 15, 2004 12:53 AMI often wonder if those posters even help in catching criminals - are they as effective as Crimewatch?
I had a cousin who was at a friend’s party and recognised someone she saw on the show…she left and called the police.
He’d raped three women - so I guess even if the posters/shows catch one person it’s worth it.
Posted by: Fi on July 15, 2004 01:05 AMHi Fi - not sure how effective the posters are. But you’re absolutely right - if they help in even a little way - then they are useful. Spooky to think that your cousin recognised the rapist.
Posted by: Jag on July 16, 2004 09:35 AM