J's BSA Report for December 2014

The first den meeting of December, J and his fellow Tiger Cubs practiced the flag ceremony. A typical ceremony is simply carrying the flags into a room and setting them up at the front. The trick is to be slow and respectful, which isn't always easy for seven-year old boys. They did well enough for practice, maybe in a future pack meeting they will be called upon to present the flags for the whole troop.

Our "go see it" this month was to a police station, specifically the Bowie Police Station. We toured the facility. A highlight for the boys was the holding cell area. Four different concrete rooms are set up with cameras so that suspects can be held and observed. The interrogation rooms are located around a corner. One of the boys asked the officer leading us around what they did to suspects to get them to talk. The officer said that they just leave the person handcuffed to the wall in their seat for twenty minutes and then come in and talk. There's no harsh lighting or tough talk or abuse. At the end of the tour, J received a bag of goodies to take home, including a badge and a pencil that changes colors when it gets warm.

We couldn't take pictures inside so this is all I have:

Police cruisers

Cool swag

The final pack meeting of 2014 was all about being safe on the internet. The Webelos (the oldest of the Cub Scouts) presented the information in two stations. A third station was run by the Pack Leader. At the end of the meeting, the Pack Leader handed out awards, including the popcorn sales patches and prizes. J got his patch and a fine compass.

J in uniform with swag

Swag close up

Ripon Prison & Police Museum 2012

We finally made it back to the Ripon Prison & Police Museum recently. Before, we only were able to walk around the front court yard and enjoy the various shackles on the wall. Oh, and the Police Call Box that's really the Tardis inside. On this trip, we discovered that the Tardis interior was gone!

No Doctor Who reference?

When I asked inside about it, the lady at the ticket counter said it was being redone. They had a bunch of old computer keyboards and random other "bits and bobs" that they will put in to make it more fun for visiting children.

The museum is quite interactive for children, which was a delightful surprise for us. After the first few cells, we discovered some fun things to play along with.

Stocks, chair straps, and straight jackets were some classic restraints on display

This is what a 14th century "Shire Reeve" or sheriff would look like. Presumably the prisoner is period as well.

Gaoler and Prisoner, maybe a good name for a pub?

This door is circa 1700. The goaler used the cylindrical serving hatch to give food to prisoners without needing to unlock and open the door. The sign states that conditions were so bad in the gaol that a staff member would bring a dog to defend himself against the vermin, but the dog was killed in the attempt!

Gaol door (p.s. "gaol" is "jail" in American)

Finally we hit some interactive paydirt. Jacob loved the handcuffs, though not as much as Lucy loved the magnifying glass. I had to carry the glass back to its proper room when she forgot to put it down.

Jacob's Houdini face

Investigative team (yes, they chose those colors themselves)

We also saw a mock-up of a prison chapel. Typical chapels were pretty uncheery affairs. The panel of St. George is quite nice, though.

Jacob is appropriately chastised by the sermon

The next room was full of badges, pins, and other insignia from the past several centuries. The room after that had a transportation display, including a police motorcycle that we all tried out.

Officer Prior guns the engine

Lucy races without the helmet...whoops!

Jacob is a one-handed rider

I also had trouble with the helmet

Sarah was ready to enforce the law

On the stairs up I saw a rather great sign for the West Riding Constabulary. The emblem was used by police stations from the Victorian era up until 1984 when they were amalgamated with other law enforcement agencies.

West Riding of Yorkshire Constabulary sign

At the top of the stairs was a trip into the past. In the Victorian cell (circa 1860), the conditions are pretty minimal. The thing at the back is a crank that would keep the prisoner occupied. It didn't really do anything other than wear out the prisoner. The bed is just a plank of wood with a wooden pillow. They did have some blankets. At least they got a bible to read.

Victorian-era prison cell

Other methods for keeping prisoners occupied were having them carry heavy metal balls around or climb a rotating staircase. Again, there was no reason other than to make work for the prisoners.

Jacob on the stairmaster-like prison rotating staircase

Man traps were used in the 19th century to catch poachers. Ironically, the man trap is a larger version of the sort of traps poachers would use. Some poachers would wear iron gaiters to avoid serious injury while conducting their crimes. In 1827 the use of man traps was banned in England.

Man trap from the 1700s/1800s

Another sinister-looking item is the caning chair, used for corporal punishment back in the day.

Caning chair

Another cell showed what outfits were like at one time for Yorkshire prisoners. The distinctive clothes would make escapees not blend in with regular society. Again, everyone tried them out.

Daddy, I want to look like that!

Lucy gets her wish

Jacob is happy in his work

Convict Crew

Somehow, Prior reminds me of Papillon

Many displays show the various tools of the trade in the police and prison business.

Billy clubs and other handheld devices

Another assortment of law enforcement items

Various hand-made tools by prisoners, including the classic toothbrush/razor knife

Outside, we tried the stocks which were too tall for the children.

Jacob is not tall enough to be punished properly

Lucy gets Prior-ity help

This museum is great to visit with kids. Not only are there lots of interactive exhibits to keep them engaged in hands-on activities; also, the museum is not very big, so the kids can't wander off or be out of earshot whilst you are reading a display. And who doesn't like riding on a motorbike? We will definitely come back to check on the updated Tardis.

Geocaching in Faro, Portugal

The first part of my adventuring alone was looking for geocaches in Faro. We want to geocache all over Europe if we can. Each vacation outside of England we'll try to find at least one geocache. It's a great way to explore an area too. Often caches are hidden in unique sites that have some history in or significance to the area.

The first cache I found in Portugal was Aboim Ascencao. The hide is what's called a microcache. The container is very small (usually a 35 mm film canister (if people even know what that is anymore) or smaller) and only has a log book for finders to sign. No room is available to swap items. I found the hiding spot relatively quickly though I thought the design was quite clever.

View of the Refugio from the cache

The Refugio Aboim Ascencao was started in 1933 but underwent massive reorganization in 1988, when its focus on "emergencia infantil" made it a model for infant and young child care. Read more about it at their web site.

Across the street was an optometrist. It made me nervous because I kept seeing this guy out of the corner of my eye and thought he was watching me. Part of geocaching is being stealthy so non-geocachers (called "muggles") don't stumble across caches accidentally or, worse yet, report your suspicious-looking activity to the local authorities ("I swear he was hiding a small box under that bridge, officer!"). The guy in question turned out to be entirely trustworthy.

They have eyes but they do not see...

I finished logging our visit and then moved on to the next cache, Posto No 23.

This cache was nearby an old police traffic enforcement station. Apparently farmers and other shippers of goods might have to give "a gift" in order to pass the gate into town if something was amiss. Now it is just an abandoned building in the middle of a traffic  circle.

View from the cache, the booth looks terribly small

Pic from the geocache page

I also discovered some interesting art and architecture as I was wandering around looking for these caches.

Pretty yet run down second story facade

This restaurant in the middle of town has a great view overlooking the port!

We will be sure to geocache more in future countries. After these two successes, I went to see some churches. Read about them in the next blog!

When Constabulary Duty's To Be Done

This Saturday morning we had a fun outing to Ripon to see the cathedral, do some geocaching, and see whatever else struck our fancy (e.g., Jacob would surely want to go potty somewhere). The cathedral is a whole posting by itself, which I will do later.

We started our morning with a geocache just outside the Prison and Police Museum of Ripon. My wife looked in the right spot but didn't see it. I did see it, probably because I wasn't afraid of the spider web. They should probably up the difficulty rating.

We found the cache just before 10 a.m. and noticed a police call box inside.

This gate won't stop me!!

Desiring to check it out, Jacob thought about picking the lock, which seems especially inappropriate for a prison museum. He is an evil genius turning his parents into zombies, so I suppose lock picking skills would come in handy.

If only I had a sonic screwdriver like Doctor Who, this would be really easy!

He didn't need to exercise his skills. A guy soon walked up and said that he was opening up the museum right now. We could come in and look around. The newly opened courtyard had plenty of free stuff to look at. Since we wanted to see the cathedral, we did not pay to go into the museum on this trip, but will definitely go in on a future trip. We checked to see if we could get inside the police call box. Low and behold, it is the Doctor's Tardis!!

Jacob hams it up as the next Doctor Who!

Why not a Lady Doctor?

Why not a Zombie Doctor!

The only drawback to seeing this was Jacob's nervous questions about meeting a doctor. We tried to explain the difference between a medical doctor and The Doctor (a common confusion for people who haven't seen the show and for Earthling characters in the show just meeting him), but were not too successful. He'll need to see some episodes of Doctor Who someday once he is old enough.

We found some other cool stuff in the museum courtyard, too. Check out the stocks:

Me and my big head are always getting into trouble.

That collar-looking thing is a punitive device worn around the neck called a jougs. The sign says "Confinement in Jougs--a hinged and lockable iron collar attached to a church wall--was a common punishment for ecclesiastical offenses such as Sabbath breaking, blasphemy, drunkenness and adultery. They were mainly used in Scotland but there was one on a church in Bridlington." [Editor's note: Bridlington is a town on the east coast of England]

The building itself goes back to the 1600s when it was built as a gaol [Editor's note: that's a jail for the American readers]. It was closed during a reform of the correctional system in the late 1800s and turned into a police office. Later, the police moved to a different building in town and the property was turned into the current museum.

Signs--I especially like the middle one!

The visit reminded me of a favorite song from The Pirates of Penzance, here's a snippet: