Tag: Things that totally suck

No Responsibility

Gummint, Law and Order

Here’s a recent situation which set my teeth on edge:

Mackenzie Croxford-Cook, 14 and from Deal in Kent, died on August 3 this year after entering a fairground in Pencester Gardens in Dover before it opened to the public.

He and a number of friends gained access to the fun fair and used the dodgems and trampolines before the teen was trapped and fatally injured on a ‘superstar’ machine.

So far, so good:  irresponsible / lawless teens go exploring, start fucking around on equipment that in normal times would be responsibly operated and controlled, and find out the ultimate cost of trespass and said behavior.  Sad, but teenagers do this kind of stuff all the time (although not always with a tragic end), and we all feel for the grieving parents of said hooligans etc. etc.

Here’s what blows the cuff off my arm:

The inquest into his death was due to conclude on Monday at County Hall in Maidstone, but area coroner Katrina Hepburn adjourned the case so further information could be gathered.

The coroner would like to question ride operator, Luke Shufflebottom, as well as Dover District Council which owns the land.

Ummm what for?  Was said funfair locked up?  Were signs posted which said, “Warning: Equipment Should Not Be Operated Except By Fairground Employees”, or something like that?  If so, then we all move on — if not, then fines can be issued and so on.

Ms Hepburn wants to have ‘all of the information’ needed to both conclude the inquest and potentially issue a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report, if necessary, due to any failings or shortcomings which could have contributed to the death.  She explained: ‘Mackenzie and his colleagues had access to this ride outside its hours of operation with such tragic consequences. I believe there is missing evidence looking at the fencing of this ride and questions about access to this location for these teenagers on that morning. Mackenzie was trapped in a fairground ride but I don’t have evidence about how that location was being fenced and monitored at that hour in the morning.’

Errrr no.  You’re the fucking coroner.  Your responsibility begins and ends with determining the cause of death.  If there’s any kind of culpability to be sought, that’s actually the job of the police to determine — assuming they’re not too busy tracking down and arresting perpetrators of hateful online texts, that is.

And excuse me, but it is not the responsibility of the fairground operator to have security constantly patrolling the (locked) premises just in case a bunch of thrill-seeking, irresponsible punks happen to come calling.

I’m heartily sick of criminal behavior being excused because there weren’t a thousand warning signs posted or a security guard stationed at five-yard intervals just in case some scrote feels like breaking the law.  A fence, a locked gate and a warning sign should be all that’s necessary to prevent you from accidentally getting hurt.  After that, you’re on your own and if bad things happen it’s your fault, and your problem.

Some people, such as the above coroner, are no doubt going to disagree with me, but I don’t care.  They’re wrong, and I’m right.

All Fine

Health

Just got back from my annual eye exam, with its usual consequences to my vision:

Of course, there’s that “cataract” thing in my right eye that’ll need attention at some point… but as I’m almost completely blind in my left eye, I’m kinda nervous about it.

AND I have a “routine” colonoscopy scheduled for next month.

This “getting old” thing isn’t for young people, lemme tell ya.

Storm Front: Ian, You Bastard

Disaster

Amidst all the tales of woe emanating from storm-battered Florida at the moment, few can be more tragic than this one:

Brand new McLaren hypercar worth over $1 MILLION is washed from Florida garage by floodwater from Hurricane Ian

Before:

After:

I mean, the poor guy’s going to be left with only his Rolls to fetch groceries… talk about suffering.

(Afterthought:  his insurance agent is probably going to commit suicide — I bet that when he included a “we’ll pay if your McLaren is washed away in a storm” rider in the coverage, he thought he was onto a sure thing.)

When It Hurts To Eat

Food & Drink

I’m the grocery shopper in our household, not just because New Wife still hasn’t got used to the different brands and such in the U.S., but because as I’ve said before, there’s not much goes on in a Kroger or whatever that I don’t know about.

So you certainly don’t have to tell ME that grocery prices are going through the roof thanks to Bidenflation.

My average spend, or “ring” per visit has typically been around $40 – $70 each week (the upper end if I’m buying a little meat or deli), and it’s been in that ballpark for about the past five years.  The only time it would be higher than that was if we were buying for company, i.e. when family or friends were coming round for dinner.

Now?

Since the beginning of the year, I can count on one hand the number of times that my ring has been less than $100 — and that’s after cutting back severely on quantities, buying smaller packs and / or cheaper, buying certain items (e.g. deli or frozen foods) less frequently, using all the tricks of the trade I know from my four decades in the supermarket business to make my grocery dollar stretch further.  I probably buy, in item count, about 25% less than I used to buy;  and still the average basket ring is over $100.

Now too, I drive about twice a week less frequently than I used to — combining trips to the bank, say, with trips to the supermarket or farmers’ market, trying to stretch the fuel as much as I can, and over a month, I’m probably in the car about a dozen times less than my old average.

Here’s the thing, though:  gas prices go up and down, and we’re all used to seeing that.  When it comes to grocery prices, however, they never come down.  It’s just a fact of life.

Thank you Biden, you motherfucker, you and all your foul little government apparatchiks who have pooled their efforts to make America unaffordable in the Great Reset.

What Bullshit

Health, Nannies

Apparently, every ailment now means you have caught the ‘Rona:

Body aches, a runny nose and diarrhoea are among the nine new signs of Covid that have been added to the NHS symptom list.

The health service quietly expanded its list of all the tell-tale signs of the virus to also include a loss of appetite, feeling or being sick and a headache.

So now basically Covid has become the trawling net for all sickness, ergo the means whereby we could be isolated, locked down or similarly oppressed for having a cold, the flu, an upset stomach or being hung over.

Unforeseen Hardship

Friends and Family

I have sometimes, I think, referred to my “adopted” daughter — the quotes because she isn’t legally adopted, but I treat her as my second daughter for all sorts of reasons:  difficult parents, occasional bad health and so on.

It all started when she went on our last great overseas adventure, the “Great Catholic Trip” wherein we visited several of Europe’s great cathedrals, basically as an excuse to go to Vienna (Stephansdom), Rome (Vatican) and Paris (Notre Dame v.1).  Here are a couple of pictures of the family in those cities — Lily is the short redhead:

Heidelberg (our start-off city)

Paris

Rome

Paris

Since then (over a dozen years ago), Lily has been as close as a daughter can be without actually being one.  She found the guy of her dreams (a mechanical engineer, gawd help us), and they set about building their lives together:  working hard, building careers, saving money, buying a little house and so on.

Let me say that in the past three months, all that has come crashing down, leaving her and David in a deep pit.

Read all about it here, and please help her if you can.  Her needs are modest, but critical.

I would regard it as a personal favor from my Loyal Readers.