I know I was off to Cape Cod, but can I return to Portsmouth for a moment.

Just off from the harbour is a sort of town square area. Loads of shops
and wide pavement areas. When we were there there were a lot of young
people just sort of hanging around, sitting on the sidewalk or standing
around in groups chatting. In amongst this we saw a quite dramatic
contrast.

Pulled over in a 'No Parking' area was a big four wheel drive pick up
thing. All black with dark windows and enormous wheels. Alongside was
Portsmouth Police's finest. Black and white Harley with everything
flashing and the cop standing by the drivers door looking mean, not that
you could see 'mean' behind his mirror shades and crash helmet. He was
your stereotypical US traffic cop and he was packing the only gun we saw
during the entire fortnight. He strutted around, checked the plates, did
all the stuff, wrote the ticket and then both parties left.

The contrast was just on the other side of the road. A Black and White was
pulled half up on the sidewalk and the two cops were just sat on the
ground in amongst a bunch of youngsters having a chat and a laugh with
them. No guns, no sticks, no aggravation.

Two sides of Portsmouth police. Just an observation.