"Where There's One . . .

. . . There's Another"

I've been meaning to post this for ages, but a couple of incidents in the last couple of days have reminded me.

So: "Where There's One, There's Another"

Often true when out and about on the road, and worth noting to raise your awareness in situations - and keep it raised.

The particular instances that have reminded me both involve emergency vehicles. Being sad, I happen to know that a typical 'urban' fire brigade response is to send two appliances (no, not 'engine' - that's only manual or steam operated or driven - told you I was sad!). In most small-medium towns there will be one full-time fire crew, and a second 'retained' crew who have 'day jobs' and are alerted by pagers when needed. Larger towns and cities may well have two crews on full-time standby.

So that two appliance turn out could be one vehicle, followed by another two minutes later, or two nose-to-tail.

Locally we have an ambulance station, and on some calls they'll send a fast response vehicle as well as the ambulance itself - so if you see the car, and full-sized ambulance may not be far behind.

Of course, with a larger incident you may get all three services responding (as in Basingstoke the other day, when two applicances were followed by a police patrol car).

If two emergency vehicles are running together, it's likely - but not guaranteed - that they'll run with different siren tones.

It's not just vehicles, though. Many animals 'herd' - so if you see one sheep popping its head through a hole in a fence, expect another 20 or 30. Similarly, if one deer jumps across the road, expect more.

What about children? They're 'pack' animals. If one runs across - look for the threatening one that's chasing. Same if there's a kid on a bicycle or even a lycra-clad adult - one could be the lead rider of a posse.

So, remember: Where There's One, There's Another!

And also remember that fire appliances are like dogs - they tend to mark their progress with watery stains . . .


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