A plumber has been called so we shall see what the actual cause of the problem is when he comes out to the house and takes a look.

What must have been hundreds of small but certainly similar birds were flying in a huge cloud in a circular motion over the busy roadway below. In the fading light it was impossible to see what type of birds they were but their hypnotic motion and the way in which they stayed together and responded to each other to maintain movement in an almost perfect circle was truly remarkable.

Silhouetted against the paling evening sky it was one of those moments when I wished I’d been a pedestrian with my camera rather than a motorist stuck at the lights.

My tee shot on the first, while cleanly hit and with a nice length, gained a fairly serious fade and landed up in a thicket at the edge of the course. This initial failure being somewhat expected didn’t deter me and I took a second shot of similar length, landing in the middle of the fairway.

As I approached the green a pair of golfers, one of them clearly a newbie while the other somewhat more competent, were just finishing up on the green. I finished the hole in 5 and moved onto the second tee. The pair ahead of me had already started but moved to the side and waved at me to play through.

Normally this wouldn’t have phased me in the slightest but as I waved my acceptance and addressed the ball I gained a distinct sense of foreboding - what if a newbie were to witness the kind of tee shot I’d just pulled off on the first right before his eyes?

Thinking this was of course rather foolish as it merely served to put me off. As I hit the ball with a solid “Thwack” I realised that I’d tensed up and opened the face of the club far too much. While straight and true my ball did an almost entirely vertical dance into the air, disappearing against the pale blue winter sky briefly before landing no more than 25 yards in front of me.

A faint but distinctly audible chuckle drifted through the air toward me. Feeling a total fool I retrieved the errant ball, replaced it upon the tee and said a silent prayer to the God of golf to guide my next shot straight and true with a good length on it such that I could quickly rid myself of the somewhat embarrassing situation. Thankfully my prayers were answered and my ball landed a good 150 yards beyond where they were standing in the centre of the fairway. Smiling and waving my thanks I continued on my way, completing the hole in 6, which given my initial performance was none too bad.

The rest of my round was somewhat uneventful as being late in the day I met no further golfers and thus saved myself from a number of potentially embarrassing situations where my golfing skills clearly left a lot to be desired.

The round was far from a total loss however. I used the emptiness of the course to take several tee shots in places to help me get back in the groove and by the end of the round felt I was already approaching some semblance of my previous standard. My putting still leaves a lot to be desired but then there is a whole golfing season ahead in which to practice and I feel confident that better golf is surely just around the corner.

It’s great to be back behind the desk again after a long break since my time on URY. I look forward to getting back into the grove with presenting and hopefully moving onto bigger and better radio orientated things in the future.

A better example of shooting yourself in the foot I haven’t seen in some considerable time.

If, like me, you enjoy photography, what better way to scope out potential shots than to go there from the comfort of your own home before making the drive!

Keeping an eye on the news I had rather been hoping that given the serious nature of the crime a long sentence would be passed and that some semblance of my faith in British justice could be restored. Sadly this was not to be the case. What actually happened was both inadequate and disgraceful. The brothers were handed a minimum sentence of 5 years.

To put this in context and thus explain my complete and utter outrage, consider the following. At point of sentencing the bothers are aged 11 and 12 respectively. This means that subject to good behaviour and their managing to persuade the authorities that they pose no danger to society (which considering the failings of social services before the case they are highly likely to be able to do), these violent criminals will once more be free to roam the streets at the ages of 16 and 17. This is of course just in time for them to reach adulthood, their criminal record slate to be wiped clean by the authorities and them to proceed into adult society as if nothing had ever happened.

Can I be the only one who sees something seriously wrong here? Ok, the sentence could be extended given that the term was a minimum one, but do you seriously think that is going to happen? Already we hear cries of blaming the parents, shifting the responsibility. Sure, the parents might carry a portion of blame, sure, prosecute them for abuse if you want, but do not under any circumstances let that detract from the fact that is was the two young brothers who committed this heinous crime. To add insult to injury, they have refused to reveal the identities of these thugs. If an adult had committed this crime they would be named and shamed in the public press and be looking down the barrel of 25 years in jail.

The rationale in treating children differently in criminal court is that society deems them to be less capable of perpetrating the severity of crime that might be carried out by an adult. The problem is that we steadfastly stick to this notion irrespective of the crime commited by the child, this case being a classic example, 5 years vs. the adult 25 years, yet the societal impact of this crime and it’s perpetrators roaming the streets is the same, irrespective of their age.

Seated round the dinner table at the home of a good friend and her family over summer we got onto news and current affairs discussion, in particular about the increasingly violent actions of young people. In putting my views across I coined the phrase “You do the adult crime, you do the adult time”. I received a resounding note of agreement from all in attendance and indeed have continued to do so going forward when I have quoted the phrase to others.

For too long we have merely bemoaned the fact that the balance of power is in the hands of the criminal rather than the law abiding citizen. We have talked for too long. The time for action is now.