How to meet a Constable in York.

The City of York and the York Minster

Although I wouldn't recommend this method to any of my fellow travelers I did find an interesting way to meet one of Yorkshires finest. I was on a business trip to the UK and traveling with a couple of my clients from London to York one winter afternoon. We departed our train at the genteel Victorian Rail Station in York and headed for the taxi queue. It was rush hour and the queue was backed up so we decided to walk the 30 minutes to our hotel. It was getting dark and the temperature was headed down so I stopped briefly just outside the rail station and put on my coat.

As we headed across town towards our hotel I noticed something about my traveling partners that seemed odd but I shook it off until it hit me again, they all had business backpacks on. At that moment I felt a sinking feeling hit me like a ton of bricks, I didn't have my case! Oh no, I screamed as my travel partners turned and asked what was the matter. I quickly explained my dilemma, handed my roller bag to one of my team and took off with my friend Dale to try and retrieve the lost bag.

As we half- ran the 15 minutes back to the station all sorts of things ran through my mind, its gone, my laptop, passport and who knows what else is gone with it or maybe someone honest, (after all this was Old York not New York), found it and turned it in. Fingers crossed as we neared the station and the scene was not the one I pictured in the harried minutes before. Distant sirens blared, the entire corner, where I had set my bag down to put on my coat just minutes before was suddenly empty. I watched as a member of the York Police was pushing back members of the public away from my bag and talking into his radio.. Well at least my bag was still there. As I approached the corner and attempted to quell the panic by telling the officer that it was my bag setting there he responded with some relief " that your bag sir" and in a similarly relieved voice I said yes it is and explained what had happened. He was quite cordial considering the near emergency I had caused and explained why the panic had ensued.

You see, the good folks in the UK had been conditioned for decades to look out for suspicious packages and such because of the many bombings that took places during the troubling prior decades of terror that transpired due to the fighting in Northern Ireland. With my small forgetful action I had rekindled the fear just a bit. In a way that fear saved me from a lot of paperwork and explanation to my employers and the State Department. And by the way the Constable I met couldn't have been nicer or more understanding.

As I walked away with Dale we had quite a laugh at all the ruckus I had caused, the area cleared, the bomb squad dispatched and true panic had ensued in York that late afternoon. Never leave your bag unattended!