Getting Old....

I think this news story was the biggest when I was growing up. Some guy picked up a shotgun, walked around a neighbouring town (it was about 10 minutes walk from my front door), and shot pretty much everyone he saw. It's the 20th anniversary today, and it kinda made me realize how long ago that was. It also made me realize I've spent more of my adult life in the US than I ever did in the UK now, which is kinda weird in itself.

The main thing I remember about this was that I was the only one of our group who had passed his driving test. We went down to take a look a day or two after the incident (it's amazing what curious 17 year olds would do...), and Nev drove. We went down the street, passed the guys house (and the mobile incident unit) and suddenly realized the other end of the road was blocked off. It was a pretty tight little road - one of those you see on movies about England, with big old trees on either side, and just enough room to fit two small cars down it (it would be a tight fit for your F150 on it's own..).

Nev was driving, but he hadn't passed his test yet, so I was the qualified front seat passenger for him. He freaked a little about reversing back down the street, so I ended up jumping in the driver's seat. I just remember being terrified of crashing, even though we were doing no more than 10 mph. I wasn't insured for the car, had never driven it before (it was a blue Austin Allegro if you know what they look like), I was reversing down a ridiculously narrow street with cars parked on one side, and had to pass pretty much every local police man that was currently working. Talk about pressure. Anyway, I guess it was punishment for going to take a look at something we had no right going to look at, but I survived to live another day.

BBC NEWS | England | Tyne | Survivor remembers shooting spree