I did a bit of a detour while walking Ruby (my little whippet dog) and went down a different road to what I would normally do. While walking the road I noticed two Gedling Borough Neighbourhood Wardens pushing leaflets through the letterboxes of the houses on the road.
As we walked down the road, one of the wardens was just walking out of the gate of on of the houses on the street. Meet Nikita, who made a big fuss of Ruby . We had a conversation about Ruby being a rescue dog. I asked her what she was pushing through the letterboxes. She told me they had had a lot of issues with dog fouling. I said Ruby had no issues in that department and produced a handful of poo bags from my pockets ! Nikita said it was good that I was a responsible dog owner !
I asked her if her job would include being a “Covid-19 Marshall” (the latest bright idea from the government to maintain the ”rule of six”). Nikita said she thought that might be a job for the Police rather then the Wardens. I asked Nikita if joining the Police was a the next step on her career path. Nikita told me it was a possibility but the Police only recruit at certain times. Her brother in law was a Police Officer and he could help her with the application form when the Police open the recruitment process.
I then asked Nikita if she would take part in my strangers project. She was a bit hesitant at first asking what would I say about her. I told her I would mention how I met her, how she liked Ruby and the conversation we had about her job.
When she said “Yes”, I asked her what her name was. Nikita she told me, as in the Elton John song. I said I knew the song, it was about his wife, when he married briefly in the 80’s. Nikita said she thought it was about a Russian Spy ! I was convinced it was Elton’s wife, but when I did a google when I was back at home, I was wrong.
Nikita shouted to her colleague that she was doing a photoshoot and was going online ! The other officer was a “newbie” and she was showing him the ropes.
I shot quite a few shots and then checked them on the display. I told her I was checking her eyes were OK. Nikita said she had nice eyes and I said OK was checking they were sharp ! She does have nice eyes though and I told her that !
I gave her a card and thanked her for her time. While we were shooting and chatting her colleague had finished off the leaflet drop by completing Nikita’s side of the street. I joked that I had saved her a few drops.
Nikita said she would look for her photo online and we went our separate ways. As I got to the end of the street I rechecked the photos on the camera and when I looked up to cross the road Nikita and her colleague were in the queue of traffic in their Neighbour Warden Van.
“I’m just checking the photos are OK” I shouted to her
Superb capture of Nikita who happens to be a lovely young lady with a beautiful smile. She just slightly pops ( which is good) over the background. I thought that the few rude people who do not clean after their dogs were only in Malta.
