CAREERS INSPIRATION DAY
My job is my life. It’s what keeps me going: the adrenaline rush, the power, the respect you get donning that uniform. I try not to let the power go to my head but I’m only human. Knowing I could make or break lives if I chose thrills me to my core. One particular morning I get dressed, put on my hat, take my weapon and head out into the effervescent, pulsating core of London. I patrol my beat, seeing if anyone needs the strong arm of the law to crash down upon them.Here he is, the serial offender I see terrifyingly often. This criminal, this latent sociopath, this anarchical maniac has once again parked in an unloading only space. He certainly isn’t loading anything into that boot, I snort to myself. I write the ticket gleefully, licking my lips as I place it under his windscreen wiper. Order is maintained. My career has cost me many things in life. I had to leave my wife as a result of my dedication to the force. I hardly see my kids these days so today was something special for them; I was taking them to a football match. My son is eleven and my daughter eight; I think they understand that sometimes sacrifices must be made in the name of duty, and march on with stiff upper lips just as their father would. I bought them each a burger, ‘... presumably mostly horsemeat,’ I quipped, and we sat behind the goal. A great performance from the lads; a gutsy 4-0 loss. I drop the children at my wife’s dreary, post-war monstrosity of a house. She informs me that my son has a ‘Careers Inspiration Day’ at school and I should go in her stead. I suppose he was too bashful to ask me in person; my wife, a shop assistant,would not inspire the same admiration amongst his peers.
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