Re: OT. Freedom Of Speech

On 2006-07-05, Rowland McDonnell <real-address-in-sig@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

snip

See? The schools know what the problem is. But just how much of a risk
is it? Is enforcing the wearing of goggles sane? Anyone hear ever see
or hear of anyone suffering significant eye damage from playing conkers?
Not me. I suspect that the risks are trivial. But on the other hand,
would you like to explain things in those terms to little Johnny's mum
when she comes to pick up her now one-eyed son from the hospital?

.... with compensation-seeking contingent-fee lawyer in tow.

When I was a kid, we played both official and spontaneous games on the
lovely concrete, cobbles, and tarmac, 'school playground'. Our out-door
'PE' included use of a tall 'climbing frame' of steel tubes, standing
firmly on concrete. The swings and roundabouts in the public parks were
mostly on concrete because the parents complained about the mud when the
grass wore out. The indoor 'gym' had a highly polished wood-block floor
laid on solid concrete. The climbing ropes and wall-bars went all the way
to the 20-foot ceiling. We learned not to fall off.

The all-weather cricket pitch and council tennis courts were surfaced
with asphalt on top of the concrete, because otherwise the balls wore out
too fast.

Our rugger boots had aluminium studs, or leather ones held on with steel
nails. Running shoes had steel spikes, to grip the cinder track.

Cuts, bruises, fractures, and the odd worse injury were 'part of growing
up' and 'only to be expected'. If a boy cried over a grazed knee he'd
quite possibly get his ears boxed by the teacher 'for being a cry-baby'.

A boy was killed by a javelin on a school sports day one year. 'Well he
should have known better than to stand there, shouldn't he'. The school
were represented at the funeral, of course. The parents sent a nice letter
that was put on the notice-board.

Of course the teachers habitually threw chalk, or wooden
blackboard-rubbers, at miscreants in class. The steel ruler was a
favoured instrument of chastisement.

There was a recent example of how things have changed in the last 30
years, on the 'Blue Peter' childrens' TV show.

A presenter went to the top of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square to
'help' with the restoration. She was kitted out with high-visibility
jacket, hard hat, 'safety boots', and rigger's gloves, and reached the top
by climbing the stairs incorporated into the safety-netted scaffolding
that goes all the way to the hero's hat.

The programme then showed clips of a similar visit made by an earlier
presenter in the '60s or '70s; it involved climbing a rope ladder up the
side of the column, then transferring to a rope to get around the
over-hang of the platform at the top; "the overhang makes this bit tricky
and it's a long way down, so I don't want to let go". No special safety
kit, just the same casual clothes as would have been worn for a stroll in
the park. (The unseen hero being of course the poor sod who did all that
carrying and filming with a nice portable film camera about the size of a
suit-case, and not wobbling at all).

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-- Whiskers
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