"I guess one angel in another’s hell:", line 12 from the Bard's Sonnet 144.
Of David, "Benedictus Dominus Deus meus, qui docet manus meas ad prælium, et digitos meos ad bellum.". The first line of Psalm 144, this translated from the Hebrew to Latin. 'With the development of the ideal of the knighthood in the 12th century, the verse came to be seen as a fitting prayer for the Christian warrior' Wiki tells us.
Line 12: "Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace."
Anyhow...I digress. I left school early, at 15...not really early, the right age given my summer birth date. The thought of more exams and possible university was too much too bear. St. Nicks, being a grammar school (originally a school teaching Latin, but the main difference 'back in the day' was that a grammar school would select pupils based on academic achievement) was meant to prepare us for college or - preferably - university, but a very high percentage of my year (admittedly after they stayed for A-levels in most cases) joined the Met. Police or the armed forces: HERE in my case - being a fit lad... as the recruiting officer said!
To be honest I didn't fit in: being too 'straight', being a good scout throughout my childhood I was a bit of a wanker at being a Para, I kept telling the NCOs what they were doing wrong. Probably lucky that a medical discharge, albeit with an exemplary service record, led to an earlier than expected start to what I sort of wanted to do anyway i.e. "work outdoors".
I have always presumed that growing up looking out onto green fields and a dairy farm (despite living in North-West London) was the subliminal influence to this 'career' path (career in inverted commas because I have never had a life plan at all). I started at BCA in September 1980.
