Even before our intrepid team of five headed out to serve our City's night time revellers, the evening had begun with a small problem at our base camp in Wade Street Church as the the kitchen we use to fill our urns for tea and coffee was not accessible due to doors being unexpectedly locked. Fortunately we were able to access a smaller kitchen elsewhere in the building. It took a bit longer to prepare the flasks, but it was OK and we were soon ready to hit the road(s).
The changeable, yet mild weather called for a mixture of tabards and jackets. Over the course of the evening, there was a steady stream of visitors to our table with occasional more manic periods, and the current closure of Walkabouts for refurbishment, made Bird Street a much more sedate environment.
One of our first visitors was a very young looking policeman, who was on his own. He had been on duty in Tamworth and was finishing his shift here in Lichfield. It was reassuring for us to have at least some sort of authority presence on the streets Later on, and also on duty, three young female police officers happened to come by.
As the evening wore on, a young lady approached us, concerned about a young lad, who appeared to be quite intoxicated and had apparently mislaid his friends. He was able to tell us that he was from Polesworth and his phone battery had died causing him not only to be unable to contact his mislaid friends but also to have no access to his money (the downside of our increasing reliance on modern technology).
Our friendly doorman, Bobby, and the owner of Millennium Chicken were on hand to help. It was a bit of a struggle to find the relevant charging cable and the police were drafted in to help, but the lad ended up sitting in Millennium Chicken to sober up a bit. On reflection we have decided that LNL should have a fast charging Power Bank of our own so we can help out more efficiently and effectively in these types of situations, and thus giving ourselves yet another helpful string to our collective bow!
Just after one o'clock, as we began to pack up and set off to base, we noticed that the lad was still inside of Millennium Chicken. Somebody had found a USB 'C' cable, so we can only assume that all was well that ended well.