Nanny knows best

[treecreeper]

I need to type this while I'm still angry. Near Flint in North wales is an extensive tract of land, once mined for lead but now largely abandoned to the gorse and the sheep's fescue. However, there are a few open cast mines plus a couple of villages and some scattered houses.

There are several ponds amongst the gorse. Today I went to look at one I hadn't seen this year. Despite having some small fish it supports a population of frogs and toads.

As I approached, something wasn't right. What was that orange thing?


Here's the pond as it should be seen....


...and here, on the left, is what some do-gooding nanny has added


...and in closeup


Note this is not the boating lake by the promenade. It is not the children's lido. It is countryside. What will I see on my next visit? Safety rails? Wheelchair access? I do not know the perpetrator. Possibly a busybody from the parish council. I feel sure the culprit has a car sticker saying 'Have You Hugged Your Child Today?'

More was to follow. Just half a mile North is one of the quarries I have alluded to. Quite reasonably, it has a fence surrounding it. But somebody has decided to attach garish signs every twenty yards:







These deface the land are are entirely redundant. Anyone able to climb over the fence can hardly have failed to perceive the cliff edge.
The last one informs children the quarry is not a play site. I beg to differ. recalling my boyhood in Southsea, climbing along the underside of South Parade Pier and clambering over the bombed sites, I cannot imagine a more magical play site:





And any adventurous enough to walk to the tip of this little promontory (with care - there is a crack through it through which you can see straight down):



....is rewarded with this view:



All comments welcome. But if you don't agree with me, please reveal what car stickers you have.
TC

[KeenTeen17]

typical health and safety society we've got. these are all over the quarries near me but I'm used to them. I think anyone dumb enough to fall off a cliff of their own accord shouldn't be compensated

[Meta menardi]

It did all get silly when they put a warning notice on every 'leccy pole, especially the on by our (very isolated) house at the time. Still, it did stop my 70 year old Mum from climbing it every day... didn't it?

[agrumpycow]

I must admit I don't see why you're so offended? Yes everyone already knows the dangers and a sign wouldn't stop them doing something dumb like hanging over a cliff but why get so upset about a sign or a lifebuoy? Does it do any harm?

[solus]

The trouble is we live in (another unwelcome import from America!) a country whereby "compensation culture" seems to have taken over. Nobody seems prepared these days to take any responsibility for their actions, always looking for someone else to blame if things go wrong. If a child is injured or killed falling into or over or off some natural feature, the parent instantly searches for somebody to blame: why didn't the Council/"they" have notices/fences?? Not a thought as to why they might have a responsibility for their own child. Accidents do happen: when I was at school, if a child fell off the wall bars in a Gym lesson, for example, and broke a limb, they would be back at school in the next day or so, proudly sporting a bright, white new plaster cast and were, for a short time at least, the centre of attention and something of a hero (heroine!). Now, the parent is more than likely to try to sue because the school was somehow at fault. All these ads on daytime TV for "No Win, No Fee" compensation firms no doubt give folk silly ideas.

Some years ago on a return visit to Ireland, we were horrified to find many of our favourite wildflower sites on The Burren newly fenced off with "Keep Out!" notices all over the place. When I asked our host if we were likely to be confronted by an angry farmer brandishing a shotgun as we "trespassed" , he laughed and said No, the signs were "for the Americans" who would like as not try to sue the farmer if they so much as stubbed their toe on a rock on his land! (And for anyone who knows the Burren, it's nearly all rock!!)

I hate the way the wild but more accessible parts of our beautiful country are being sanitised and fenced off "for our own safety". Look, but from a safe distance and keep behind that fence! It's for your own good!! Grrrr!!

OK, rant over!

[Jason Green]

I can't, really, see it being a bad idea? I know, I'm a safety steward - but at least it isn't fenced off or something

You, I or anyone else would be grateful should that need for it arise...

[treecreeper]

Originally Posted by agrumpycow

I must admit I don't see why you're so offended? Yes everyone already knows the dangers and a sign wouldn't stop them doing something dumb like hanging over a cliff but why get so upset about a sign or a lifebuoy? Does it do any harm?

The lifebuoy is the greater offence. It has civilised a little piece of countryside and turned it into an amenity. You are no longer in the country, but in a municipal park. The spirit of that little place has been destroyed as effectively as if there had been a nature trail, a picnic bench, or a countryside ranger patrolling the area to make sure noone gets lost or gets their feet wet in a nasty puddle. When I go into the countryside I want to forget, if only for a few hours, that there is a world which regulates and monitors me, and peers into my mind looking for unauthorised thoughts. I want to be free....

[Dutchess]

Edited

[Dutchess]

Edited

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by solus

The trouble is we live in (another unwelcome import from America!) a country whereby "compensation culture" seems to have taken over. Nobody seems prepared these days to take any responsibility for their actions, always looking for someone else to blame if things go wrong. If a child is injured or killed falling into or over or off some natural feature, the parent instantly searches for somebody to blame: why didn't the Council/"they" have notices/fences?? Not a thought as to why they might have a responsibility for their own child. Accidents do happen: when I was at school, if a child fell off the wall bars in a Gym lesson, for example, and broke a limb, they would be back at school in the next day or so, proudly sporting a bright, white new plaster cast and were, for a short time at least, the centre of attention and something of a hero (heroine!). Now, the parent is more than likely to try to sue because the school was somehow at fault. All these ads on daytime TV for "No Win, No Fee" compensation firms no doubt give folk silly ideas.

Some years ago on a return visit to Ireland, we were horrified to find many of our favourite wildflower sites on The Burren newly fenced off with "Keep Out!" notices all over the place. When I asked our host if we were likely to be confronted by an angry farmer brandishing a shotgun as we "trespassed" , he laughed and said No, the signs were "for the Americans" who would like as not try to sue the farmer if they so much as stubbed their toe on a rock on his land! (And for anyone who knows the Burren, it's nearly all rock!!)

I hate the way the wild but more accessible parts of our beautiful country are being sanitised and fenced off "for our own safety". Look, but from a safe distance and keep behind that fence! It's for your own good!! Grrrr!!

OK, rant over!

Well written solus. My sentiments too.

I'm glad you said what you did as I wasn't aware of the fencing off of The Burren, as that was on our hit list 'to visit' one day. Probably not now though.