(no subject)

[essayel]

Horrified at the cost of train travel! Last time I looked I'm sure it wasn't that much. It really shouldn't be cheaper to travel over 2 days and have a night in a hotel, should it?

Grrrr - ridiculous, but I guess I only have myself to blame for being a wuss about driving.

More weirdness from South Wales - a colleague went into town to buy some milk. On the way back he noticed a tiny toddler happily galloping in circles on the pavement outside the town's poshest hotel with NOBODY else in sight. Man approaching small boy = major no-no so he had to stand back and watch until a woman came along to chaperone. She didn't see the point, insisted it was nothing to do with her and gave in with very bad grace. Once back up was available to prove he hadn't done anything unpleasant he spoke to the toddler who grinned and said, "I jumped out the door." "Where's your mummy?" "Mummy's GONE!" Colleague paniced a little and called the manager from the hotel to ask if the child was a guest. The manager said no and panicked as well and expressed the intention of calling the police. meantime the token woman was whining about not being able to see why she had to be there. Then - LOUD shout from approaching woman with bags of shopping. "What the f*** do you think you're doing with my child?" They explained and she flew into a passion. She'd left her UNLOCKED 4 wheel drive Mercedes outside the hotel because there was a space. She had told her son to stay in his car seat and that she wouldn't be long. Then she'd gone along to Tescos [at the OTHER END of town, a 20 minute round trip walk plus shopping time]. She couldn't see what the fuss was about! They should have minded their own business. It wasn't her fault. She tossed the kid and her shopping into the car and took off cursing.

I have no words.

Comments

[beckyblack]

My icon says it all about my reaction to that.

Shame the police weren't called before the mother came back. They'd have had a word or two to say about it. Though I'll bet the silly bitch still wouldn't have thought she was in the wrong, someone self-centred enough to do that in the first place is convinced they are never wrong.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

It's just - I still have no words!

Silly bitch is a very good description I think. I wonder if she was blonde? [I'm blonde so I'm allowed to say that.]

[casfic.livejournal.com]

And if anything had happened to the child she would have been the first screaming blue murder about hanging and flogging.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Astounding, isn't it?

How are you doing? Weather better up there yet?

[casfic.livejournal.com]

I'm OK. I keep meaning to post something, but can't really think of anything much to post about these days. I will have a think over the weekend. The weather has been much better up here lately. It's been warm! Astounding I know, albeit very windy.

[eglantine-br.livejournal.com]

Sometimes the stranger is the one who saves your child!

[britalone.livejournal.com]

My word! That certainly does leave you speechless, doesn't it?

[yakalskovich]

People have become so paranoid about kids (à propos of a man needing a chaperone to talk to a child in broad daylight on a public street), no wonder they turn out weird entitled little beasties later.

And that woman sounds mental. Over here, you could probably call the police to report her for neglecting her duty of supervision. And having been cussed out like that, people would be quite justified in doing so.

[charss.livejournal.com]

I hope someone got her car number to follow up the case of criminal neglect.

I sometimes feel that there is something wrong in a society when an adult can't act for the safety of a child, either because they risk accusation or will just be expected to mind their own business.

I once stopped because a kid down our road, who was about seven at the time, was doing bicycle wheelies with no helmet on the road just past a blind corner, and advised him that he might want to be careful doing that. The kid just looked at me like I was insane and carried on.

[anteros-lmc.livejournal.com]

I have a few choice Angle Saxon words you can borrow if you like.

[mcgonagalls-cat.livejournal.com]

Things to be marginally thankful for :
At least actions and forethought like that mother's will thin out the gene pool...

How very sad. How did our species get to this point?


.

[clarelondon.livejournal.com]

My God, how messed up is that? I often see apparently unaccompanied small children in town and I'm never sure whether to approach them. I usually keep an eye on it until the adult arrives from wherever the hell they were.

I can understand the risk from the other side, too, as in the past my son has opened a family hotel room door at age 6 and "escaped" up the corridor. We were close on his heels, and luckily he was cut off by a lovely couple who offered him tea and biscuits and brought him back. But what if they hadn't been nice - or we'd been slower off the mark? The situation with a child can change in seconds.

[stevie-carroll.livejournal.com]

Trains are annoyingly expensive right now. People were trying to lure me up to Edinburgh for Beltane, but a return fare would have cost me more than it would have done to drive. Plus, I now have stuff to do down here that will hopefully keep me well away from that wedding thing in London.

Unlocked Mercedes would just be begging to be stolen in a lot of places, and then what would have happened to the poor child whether he was in the car or not? Then again it sounds like the child had more common sense than the mother anyway. Bet she's one of those that complains about 'irresponsible poor people' being allowed to reproduce at all.

[essayel.livejournal.com]

Yep it's £30 cheaper even with the £49 for the hotel if I travel to Milton Keynes on Saturday morning and back on Sunday morning. Ridiculous.

But not as ridiculous as that stupid woman.

[wulfila.livejournal.com]

Hm, perhaps driving will sound more appealing to you if you remember that it might just give you the chance to run over annoying people like that mother in the story? (No, that was not a kind thing to say, and I apologize - but stupid people like the lady in question drive me crazy).

[jrtomlin.livejournal.com]

Beyond stupid. Kid left alone in car can easily mean dead kid. I suppose at least she didn't lock the car so he would die from the heat build-up (happens every year in the US), but one has to wonder how much better being run over is.

PEOPLE! *head* desk*