A serious point

People laugh at me because when I drive them around, I refuse to go anywhere unless they do up their seat belt, even if they are in the back.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a full car, I asked if everyone was strapped in, my passengers said yes. I found out when we got there that one person couldn't be bothered. My car has got three point seat belts all the way through (even in the middle of the back seat), so there is no excuse. And of course, if that wasn't bad enough, this person lied about wearing it. If (God forbid) we had an accident, this person would have been thrown forward through the windscreen and almost certainly suffered serious head and multiple injuries as a result. Back seat passengers who are not strapped in also frequently kill the driver or front seat passenger due to their increased weight in the impact of a collision.

If you are not convinced about wearing your seat belt, maybe reading this will change your mind.

Sorry to be so sombre about this, I read the story and I just feel it vindicates my zero-tolerance approach to seat belts. Please remember to do the right thing...

Joke

Thanks to Andy for forwarding this one:


>I'm feeling a bit lonely at the moment and so I decided life would be
>more fun if I had a pet. So, I went to the pet shop and told the owner
>that I wanted to buy an unusual pet.
>
>After some discussion, I finally bought a Centipede which came in a
>little white box to use for his house.
>
>I took the box back home, found a good location for it, and decided I
>would start off by taking my new pet to the pub to have a drink. So, I
>asked the centipede in the box, "Would you like to go down the Queen's
>Head Tavern with me and have a beer?" But there was no answer.
>
>This bothered me a bit, but I waited a few minutes and then asked him
>again, "How about going to the pub for a drink?" But again, there was
>no answer from my new friend and pet.
>
>So, I waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation.
>
>I decided to ask him one more time; this time putting my face up
>against the centipede's house and shouting, "Hey, in there! Would you
>like to go to The Queen's Head Tavern and have a drink with me?"
>
>A little voice came out of the
>box:...........................................
>
>
>
>
>"I heard you the first time! I'm putting my F***ng shoes on!"

Look at this

Check out this highly amusing blog. Having already read Tony Hawks' "Round (sic) Ireland with a fridge", and just started on "Playing the Moldovans at tennis", I am pleased to see someone else joining in the stupid betting business. But it's all for charidee...

I found this blog after seeing a report on the websites of the year.

STOP PRESS

I have just heard that Sven is to step down after the World Cup. Good, I say, but just as with Glenn Hoddle, I wish it were for football reasons rather than other stuff (although Glenn made his position untenable, I couldn't really care less if Sven is messing around behind Nancy's back - not that I approve of such behaviour).

I am slightly disturbed by reports that Sam Allardyce is the hot favourite - anyone else think it would be like having Mike Bassett?

Changing times in India

Article from the BBC website about Maxim's bid to create a salacious, chav-like, porn-fixated class of young men in India: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4633216.stm

What would you do?

Back in November, Nicola and I were driving home on a Sunday night, when she said that she saw someone collapsed at the side of the road. I turned around and got to investigate. I called 999, and panicking slightly, asked for the police. The man was obviously very drunk, he was passed out on the pavement over the road from the pub. Some other people walked past and called 999 again and asked for an ambulance. The ambulance operator ran through simple first aid tips until two lots of paramedics arrived (one from my call, one from the other). By this time, the man was coming around, and the paramedics carted him away.

Last night, Nicola and I were driving home on a Sunday night, when we saw a man collapsed in the middle of the road. Someone driving the other way also stopped (well, it was either that or run over him). As we went to check on the man's condition, two or three other people also stopped. I went to call 999, during this call the other people decided that as the man was "just very p*ssed" and told me to leave it. By now, the man had got up, staggered about and collapsed again).

After getting off the phone, I went to attend to the man. From his slurred speech, I was just about to make out that he was from Latvia. He had a cut to the bridge of his nose, and was going on about cash machines and money a lot. I wondered if he had been mugged. He had wet himself, and could barely stand, let alone walk. He wasn't making much sense, so I just tried to keep talking to him, while not getting too close in case he lashed out (given his state, this was a possibility).

The paramedics arrived very quickly, and started trying to make sense of it all. I left him in their capable hands.

When we got home, it suddenly dawned on me that not only had the other people left him, but they wanted me to as well. I have no sympathy with him for being p*ssed out of his brains, but if we had all left him, he could have been run over or caught hypothermia (the temperature was close to freezing).

I don't think of myself as a good Samaritan - I like to think that most people I know would have done the same thing. But all these other people were happy to abandon him. I am not sure what the point is, but the whole episode leaves me feeling slightly uncomfortable and raises doubts about the nature of human beings.

I would really like to hear your thoughts on this - just click below to leave a comment.

It's been a while...

Hello babies,

It has been a while since I have written anything on here - I just haven't had the time. There will be more to come soon, honest.