The Lid
The #Flickrfriday #Synecdoche challenge
With thanks to Wicki, a Synecdoche is a "figure of speech in which a term for a part of something refers to the whole of that something or vice versa."
"Lid" is police slang for the traditional helmet and therefore an affectionate term (at least I think it's affectionate!) used within the Met Police for members of the uniform branch. That makes it a synecdoche.
In the background, rising above a normal London morning rush hour, you may see Big Ben. If so, you too are using a Synecdoche. Big Ben is actually the nickname of the mighty bell which strikes on the hour, once for each hour the clock face records. The tower itself is The Queen Elizabeth Tower. It was renamed from the little known St Stephen's Tower (or simply The Clock Tower) in 2012 to mark Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee. To most though it remains Big Ben. I don't think Her Majesty really minds.
The Met is the world's oldest organised police force, formed in 1829 with nine principles, one of which is "To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence." As such the police conduct their duties with the consent of the public.
A normal rush hour, huh? Not yet two weeks ago a man drove a car at over 100 km/hour along the far pavement from Westminster Bridge. Having mowed down dozens of people, mainly those enjoying one of the world's iconic cityscapes, he ran, carrying two knives, from his vehicle into the precincts of one the world's oldest Parliaments. The first line of resistance he met was A Lid who, like 95% of his colleagues nationwide, was unarmed.
PC Keith Palmer, Rest In Peace.