I received a somewhat unexpected telephone call at around 5pm this evening.
The firearms enquiry officer dealing with my SGC renewal called this evening, in haste, to conduct the via telephone, the interview he’d clearly intended to do earlier but, due to “system and staff changes” hadn’t so far managed. This blindsided me somewhat, as – being a lazy Sunday evening – I’d just finished a pint of rather strong cider – safely, I thought – and although in the process of turning my thoughts to dinner, hadn’t managed to eat anything before being put on the spot!
I felt rather tipsy, if the truth be told, but I believe I answered all of the questions to his satisfaction and was told that my certificate would be issued tomorrow. Whether it will be hand delivered or simply posted, I don’t know, but it won’t be long before I’m back out, testing, patterning, hunting.
The whole situation has been – undeniably – an inconvenience, but everyone I have thus far spoken to from the constabulary’s firearms team has been both apologetic and apparently embarrassed at what appears to have either been excessive workload or an oversight (or both). Given that they themselves have admitted I put my application in with plenty of time to spare, I can’t give them a shining review, but I will say this: dealing with a customer’s problems in a pro-active and helpful way goes a long way to repairing any ill feeling caused by the initial mistake and I actually feel I’ve received good service from them, even if everything didn’t quite go to plan.
Game Supper
I’m cooking venison burgers for my wife and her friend tomorrow. It was going to be pigeon burgers, but my wife was concerned that feeding her “fitness guru” friend birds containing lead shot might not fly (the lead, rather than the pigeon being the problem).
For that reason, I suggested that we might eat some of the muntjac I dispatched with the .410 before Christmas – the theory being that bouncing it off a car (I didn’t do that bit, if you recall) and head-shooting it (that was me) was less likely to have introduced lead pellets to the parts I have just ground to be turned into burgers tomorrow.
With all that going on, I couldn’t miss the opportunity for a little taste test. I put one of the tenderloins aside before I started, then rubbed it with plenty of salt and pepper and fried it when I finished. It was delicious. It almost makes me want to take up deer stalking again. Almost.