Health and safety gone mad?
IF THE Nanny State needed an advert for its insanity then it came at a recent job of mine.
I had to go on to a demolition site and, because the company involved had to follow rules, staff apologetically took me to one side in a hut where I was kitted out to cover my visit even though I wasn’t going anywhere inside the gutted buildings.
First of all a hard helmet was assembled for me to put on, then a pair of half-rubberised gloves were produced and adapted for me with a knife so I could use a camera before I had to put on a virulent yellow site waistcoat.
Stepping out in that lot didn’t exactly make it easy to work and I couldn’t believe it when I was then approached and asked to put on a large pair of plastic glasses over my normal glasses.
I told staff I hadn’t worn so much protective clothing since the last bomb disposal I had been invited to!
They apologised but said they were only following the rules.
Fortunately it emerged that perhaps I wouldn’t be going right into the heart of danger… and I was then allowed to take it all off again which was a blessing, but I have learnt my lesson.
This week I have a job covering a highly dangerous coffee morning so I’ll be attending that menace in a flak jacket wearing my old cricket box with a special reinforced cheek to put my tongue in!
Quick on the draw with the sausages
WHO can resist the bangers offered at Weymouth’s Fantastic Sausage Factory?
Not many people, myself included, but with owner Dennis Spurr you don’t just get decent meat but service which raises a huge smile.
He was out in the street recently chatting away to all and sundry, as usual distributing some of his popular free sausage samples to anyone who wanted to try them.
Up stepped a couple of men while he was talking to someone else and the first man popped a piece of sausage into his mouth.
The second man also picked up a piece and, as Dennis had finished his latest chat, the man asked him what type of sausage it was.
Quick as a flash Dennis replied: “It’s from our latest pet food range!”
He then burst out laughing and came clean to the relief of the first man whose horrified face had begun to show that he regretted finishing his free sample off so quickly!
Too much, too soon?
CHILDREN seem to grow up so much faster now and modern life must shoulder a lot of the blame.
Shop chain Primark recently bowed to public pressure and withdrew its range of padded bikinis for girls as young as seven.
It was a typical problem which perfectly illustrated that the transition period between childhood and adulthood is often being not so much blurred as wiped out altogether.
Walking in the sunshine near Weymouth town centre I was recently confronted by three girls aged about ten walking towards me.
These were children quite clearly still at primary school but they were decked out to try and look as old as they possibly could with fashion clothes, masses of jewellery and styled hair.
Perhaps they felt the need to do so because of peer pressure, because they wanted to attract the attention of boys or simply because they felt like it.
Whatever the reason, their appearance just jarred. It didn’t look right.
Adulthood will be with them all too soon and I’d have thought that the parents of all three girls would have been concerned that their appearance was a case of “too much too soon” particularly in these days of increased awareness of the sexual threat to children.
Silly season's here already
WEATHER is warmer so be warned, the summer silly season has started early.
On a single trip to Upwey motorists were treated to the sight of a middle aged woman in a frock looking left, looking right and then stepping straight off the Dorchester Road kerb right in front of heavy oncoming traffic which was forced to brake sharply.
A few yards further on and an elderly man drove his car partly on to the same busy road and only then looked right to see if there was any traffic coming. There was and by then it was swerving round him.
By now jittery motorists were on their guard and when a car came out of a turning across one lane of traffic near Littlemoor Road traffic lights they were ready to stand on their brakes when the same car shot across the second lane and turned into town right in front of them.
All in all, useful practice for when the tourism season really starts. God help us then!
Volcanic problems
ICELAND’S volcanic eruption has caused travel problems which have hit many parts of the globe including Weymouth and Portland.
One group of youths tried to claim that it had prevented them going on holiday to Iceland while a young couple were genuinely annoyed that their weekend departure to “Majawka” had been delayed.
So spare a thought for one pipe-puffing pensioner who heard all this while sat in the sunshine on a street bench.
What was his muttered take on the whole meteorological situation?
Well he said: “Doesn’t bother me. I can always go to Tesco!”
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