Just a slice of life from over the pond:
I am away filming in Liverpool - a great city, but with expensive camera equipment in the back streets, there is, how shall I put this delicately, a security issue. One colleague recalls regular payoffs to "Keith the Thief". On another occasion a crew was approached by a youth wanting £10 to "mind your car".
No, the producer said firmly, he didn't need that, there was a big aggressive dog sitting on the back seat. Short pause. "Oh aye," says the youth. "Puts out fires, does he?" He collected the tenner.