In America, one man dies at the hands of a police force. The city where this happens erupts into riots which are well documented via social media. In Indonesia, eight people are executed at the hands of a government and indignation pours forth on social media. A company posts a picture of a scantily clad young lady and the social media outpourings of hate are manifold. Thousands of people die in Nepal as the result of an earthquake but the highest impact that social media centres on is the rescuing of wealthy climbers from the slopes of Mount Everest. In these cases, I am not here to say who was wrong or right but some sort of common sense risk assessment would seem to be in order surely? In the case of anyone trying to avoid a brush with the forces of law and order, not upsetting a policeman would seem to be the order of the day. I realise that I might be called a racist here but just because you aren't white, doesn't make you a criminal but neither does it exonerate you if you are. People with criminal tendencies come in all shapes, sizes and colours as do the innocents (that doesn't mean that you aren't entitled to safe treatment in the hands of the law enforcement agencies though). If you don't want to fall foul of the death penalty then don't do anything to get caught in a country that uses capital punishment. The last time I passed through Denpasar airport in Bali, there was a sizeable, very legible and prominent sign, in multiple languages, which stated that the death penalty was used if you were convicted of smuggling drugs. Now, far be it from me to cast judgement, but you can't get a balder or bolder statement of fact than that. So you have been warned should you choose to ignore the notice. As far as the scantily clad young lady is concerned, no one beat her up and forced her to pose for the advertising poster. There is nothing sexually provocative about the poster apart from the advertisement using the age old "sex sells" statement. If you don't care to use the product to achieve the the (almost) totally unrealistic figure of the lady in question then don't use that product. Just ignore the advertisement. I don't notice any fuss about the "Aussies Suck" advertising campaign which uses a strapping, muscular, bronzed young lad in swimming trunks slurping down what purports to be Australians favourite breakfast drink "Up&Go". Hang on - Up&Go - doesn't that sound like an advert for making love to a woman and then disappearing the morning afterwards? No it doesn't (but I though I would run that past you as an idea of how stupid people could be). I don't want to try the breakfast drink thank you and I can ignore the lad with the bronzed six pack on the posters even if I am disgusted because it isn't a realistic body shape for me to try and achieve. In the case of the climbers on Mount Everest, surely a lot of the helicopters and equipment that is being used to rescue them could be put to better use in Kathmandu instead? By all means don't ignore the plight of the climbers but the rescue efforts for them seem totally out of proportion to the numbers involved. So where is this leading to? To one of my favourite bugbears and soap box topics. Proportionate common sense. If you take risks then you need to bear the consequences as well as reaping the benefits. Also, you need to look at how proportionate your response is to anything. Black and white isn't always right. There is a lot of grey in there too. We really haven't got our priorities right, have we?
Yesterday, I hoped that my current list of "Ouch!" would be over and done with however, lady luck had other ideas. How does your back go out? With an audible click? Were you doing something strenuous at the time? Alas, I was just about to commence brushing my teeth when I went smoothly from standing upright to making a grab for the nearest stable surface which just happened to be a lavatory seat. I thought nothing of it because this sort of thing happens all the time to me and after a few minutes of rubbing the affected portion of my anatomy and taking it easy for a few minutes usually gets things back into their usual places and I move on with my day. Except this time, I couldn't move from the squatting position that I found myself in. Thankfully Donna was available nearby, she helped to straighten me up and fetched my walking stick to help me move around. That pretty sums up my day so far. I have been hobbling around, on a stick, like a little old person. It has cramped my style no end and has stopped me from doing that which I had planned to do - a long, brisk walk in the countryside. I could have made the effort but the last thing that I wanted to do was to collapse some miles from the car and have Donna trying to assist my return. Still, I am hoping that a hot bath, a rub with some Tiger Balm and a night's sleep will assist with the healing process
Indeed it has been a week of different styles of "Ouch!" for me. The first type of pain has been a physical one. I picked up a storming cold from out of nowhere - sore throat, chesty cough, headaches; the works. O, OK, I don't really go in for the "man-flu" thing because a headcold is a headcold and you get on with what you need to do. Where I last used to work, there was a point where I was coming down with a real rip-snorter of a cold but I couldn't afford to take time off from my job because everyone else in my section were already doing that. I sat at my desk, munched paracetamol and hoped for the best. By the time my work buddies had crawled back to their desks a week later, I had got over the worst of it and didn't need to take time off. The second type of "Ouch!" was one caused by my stupidity and is causing me some physical headaches. In a bit of a freak accident, my spectacles ended up on a road in Horsham and before I could reach for them, a car came along and ran them over. It's amazing that my glasses could fall in the exact same place where someone could put eight inches width of rubber right over the top of them. So I am wearing my old spectacles (hence the headache - the prescription isn't good for me any more) whilst the new ones are delivered. I can say that the claim on our house insurance wasn't a headache at all. One phone call (albeit being given the nth degree interrogation), one email with details of the original bill, the replacement cost and a picture of the broken glasses (so that no-one could even think that a repair was possible) and the next day, I was told that it would all be sorted out by BACS (less £50 excess) and everything should be in the bank by now. Excellent customer service Royal Sun Alliance! I only wish that Celestron Telescopes would take a leaf out of your book. Next day, I had another financial "Ouch!". I had popped down to my local brewery to get some supplies in for the weekend (headcold or not, I was going to enjoy myself) when I noticed a large nail stuck into one of my rear tyres. Not being stupid enough to pull the nail out there and then and watch the tyre suddenly deflate, I drove carefully up to Horsham and popped into National Tyres for an estimate on repair. Unfortunately a repair isn't possible for the location of the nail and seeing as the rear tyres were getting a bit low on tread, I opted to replace both of them (what with an MoT coming up and all). So, all in all a painful week but at least it is over now. Perhaps the next week will bring something beneficial. A big win on the lottery wouldn't go amiss!
Actually absence doesn't help. Apart from having to get my head around how to create a new post in my blog (after six months, I had forgotten), I haven't missed the daily grind of trying to put something down on paper (apart from skidmarks in the toilet that is - no problems there!)
Why have I decided to create an entry after all this time? Just as an electronic reminder that I can search upon. What item of my fascinating life do I need to remind myself of? The return of our Housemartins. They are about a week later than last year but they were a bit early on that occasion. It is strange because I was jut voicing my concerns over their arrival to Donna when all of a sudden, five of the little charmers flew overhead in the evening sky (they never seem to return during the early part of the day). The next day, I was voicing my concerns to Donna once again but this time it was to say that they returning birds hadn't investigated the nests under our house eaves. No sooner were the words out of my mouth when two separate birds investigated both nests. It is a wonderful sight to see and means that despite the chilly breeze, spring has arrived and summer will be coming soon. |
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May 2015
AuthorPaul Everest - Shining wit (at least that is what I think they said) |