*** Weekend Write-In for 14th Dec 2018 ***

"approach": In 500 plus words, tell what happens when it is approaching

EVERY DOG

I've been waiting for this day for a long time. Since near the start of the year, truth be told.

If it goes the way we want it to go, then this'll be a season to be jolly, indeed. It's been a bitch of a year, but this'll set it right - a nice little Christmas pressie for yours truly.

But if it don't ... well, that's a scenario I ain't prepared to give much mind space to. We did the job that needed doing and we paved the way. It should be a walk in the park, but should be, could be, would be, can easily turn sour.

There was something me old granddad usedta say when I was a kid; we'd be in the attic, walking around the huge table he'd set up and I'd be staring in awe at all the little figures - the accuracy of the battlegrounds, the fine detailing in even a mud lined trench (When we recreated the First World War) complete with real miniature wood planking and stagnant water collected from the guttering outside and ...

Well I could go on all day - point is me granddad took pride in even the smallest details. The Battle of Hastings, The Somme, Waterloo - I loved that one and it was a point of pride that Granddad wouldn't set a model soldier on the table unless it had the right insignia painted on, and occupied the right position.

Once, when I was ten, he lost his rag n walloped my behind, just because I snuck up and moved the French and British troops around to play my own game.

'This is history boy,' he'd tell me. 'We are re-creators, not some poncy ad libbing gamers. You want that crap, go play dungeons and fuckin dragons with the nerds down your school.'

Me mum, who I swear had superhuman hearing, would then shout up. 'Dad! Mind your language.'

Granddad would instantly come over all contrite. 'Sorry love.' 

'So you should be!' she'd call up. 'Now you boys play nice an come down in half hour for your tea.'

The old geezer would smile then and shake his head. 'Sorry son, yer mum's right of course. Shouldn't lose me temper, but remember Alex, this ain't yer amateur hour. There's a lot you can learn from history.'

He'd go on to tell me that though we have the advantage of hindsight, to always remember that back then, things weren't so ordered, and ... and this is the thing I was trying to remember ... 'No matter how you plan in advance, things can always and will most probably, go wrong.' Or to put it succinctly, it's a rare thing when a plan survives actual conflict with the enemy.

Of course, you can look at all eventualities and you can mitigate counters and anticipate a variety of measures your opponent will try to bring against you. Granddad's gone now - heart attack back in 2007, but his words stay with me, and the lessons he taught me - history and how to learn from it, context, tactics and deductive reasoning ... those things have become a part of my life.

Now I just have to get up there and make it airtight - no fumbles, no trips, no letting em get under my skin. 

Me girlfriend's here to support - she tightens my tie and smiles at me.

I know I've got this and what I say in the next ten minutes, will help take a scumbag off the streets.

'Court is now in session. Calling Inspector Alexander Noone to the stand.'

I step through the doors and approach the bench.