I’m out with the dog earlier and as part of the evening walk we go down next to a sliproad and onto the A46. This is coming off the M1 so drivers are still doing 60-70mph. At the bottom where we turn left the road starts to rise and curve to the right. Drivers coming off the M1 therefore have the rear lights ahead and some overspill of headlights from the right. It’s rush hour and the darkness is falling. And a group of idiots are playing chicken across the left side of the dual carriageway.

We saw them from some distance and eventually they saw us. This caused them to go over the barrier in the direction me and Winston were going. So as we went they ran off a bit further with their hoods up. Me and the dog wander off and I hear them making their way back up to continue the game. So I have my mobile (for once) and I debate ringing the police. I’m thinking that one of them could get killed, it’s dangerous. But then who cares? Maybe a kid being slammed is what the others need for them to realise they are not immortal. Do I have anything invested in their behaviour? No, so why care? Why be concerned about the actions of people who choose to behave like idiots? I leave my phone in my pocket.
But then I start thinking that if something did happen then the driver of the vehicle would have one hell of a time from a situation not of their making. And if something did happen then the emergency services would have to deal with it. So I rang the police and gave them information. The end result is less chance of an accident but the means by which I got there aren’t maybe as others would see it.

Jacq says I’m all heart :)

J is plugging away at the village website we are creating. We are pretty close to officially announcing it – done by going round the local shops with A4 ‘posters’ – and then probably talking at a parish council meeting.
That’s when we have to explain it, have to explain that free means free and that we want people to be involved. Any and each group that wants to be involved can have a subdomain run with WordPress (of course) and it’s theirs to do with as they wish. I do all the work including teaching them if they need it and they get a place within the village site to promote/inform what they do. The forums (bbPress as you would expect) will be there as will opportunities for regular writers, a gallery and other things that are thought of and suggestions.
I think a presentation at the council will work better – PowerPoint for the Mac exists? Doubt it.. – but I just hope that they see this as what we want it to be – something useful. Interesting would be good too. Because that’s it, that’s the reason. Not to make money (no ads, no costs, no money), not to have any sort of agenda, just somewhere that becomes more a central resource for the village compared to the fractured sites we have now.
It’s going to be interesting to see what does happen though.

Going to get P from school there was a debate on HeartFM by Vicki Blight. The debate was “Should women who commit crimes go to prison and if so should they be allowed to be near their kids.”. (This presenter had a ‘debate’ several weeks ago on speeding and when someone rang in to say he speeds a lot, that he is safe, that it’s everyone else who is unsafe, that he should be allowed to get away with it she completely failed to point out the flaws in his own behaviour.) Anyway, she is rabbiting on trying to get things going and she takes the first call. It was a man. The line was a little poor but you could get what he was saying – that of course women should go to prison. She said his line was bad and cut him off. Next caller was a man – he said that if women want equality they can have it, that crime should equal prison. She said his line was bad too and cut him off. Next caller was me – I wasn’t having any of his nonsense debate (I never use my mobile like this – that is how incensed I was) and I started pointing out all the flaws. J is in the car and she’s nodding at me, doing the thumbs up and listening on the radio too. Guess what? She cut me off as well. And surprise surprise – next caller is a woman who would have us believe that all women are kind gentle souls who are only made to do bad nasty things by evil men – and she got all the time she wanted to pour that drivel out.
So. Ms Blight, may I suggest a change to your show? Let’s call it “It’s ring in and agree with Vicki time!” or “See how long you last before I cut you off too!”