Skepticab musings to 18 March 2016

Monday 14 March

Spring has sprung!!

It definitely feels like early Spring now.  I'm happy :-)

New blossom spotted this week: Magnolia and cherry?

I'm no expert so please tell me if I'm wrong.

Exposure to diseases

Today I took a young lad with scarlet fever who is off school as he is highly contagious.  Am I at risk of catching and spreading diseases, not necessarily just this one?  Should I do something to protect myself and other people?

Teenage respect and lack thereof

Last Saturday there was a turn out of around 400 people, many on bikes and motorbikes, for a local teenager (Marcel Bellairs-Honiss) who had committed suicide.   All positive, except it seems to have started a spate of people to riding stupidly as there has been a marked increase in youngsters on little motorbikes riding dangerously with no helmets in public places, people doing wheelies on the roads, motorbikes on cycle paths, etc.  It would be very sad if honouring the death of one person caused harm to another.  This was the event.

Tuesday 15 March

Drastic action

I took a customer to visit his son who is in his 40s and has just been diagnosed with mouth cancer and so is having all his teeth removed as a matter of urgency.  Sad.

Wednesday 16 March

Annoying dog owner

A woman gets into the car with a smallish dog on a lead.
"Are you happy to take a dog?"
"Yes, as long as he doesn't go on the seat."
She immediately lets the dog in and onto straight onto the seat.
I ask her twice to get the dog off the seat but she just mumbles "get off" to it.
I repeat in a more assertive voice.  Eventually she gets the dog off the seat by pulling the lead.
Me silently: Grrrrrrrr!

Thursday 17 March

Social Observation

I took a group of 6 people from the town centre to an industrial area.  It was interesting to note that the one bloke sat in the front, the 3 white women sat in the middle row and the 2 black women sat in the back.  There may have been justifiable reasons for this but it did make me wonder.  One of the middle row people announced that she is no longer on the pill.  I'm not sure if I needed to know that.

Grumpy drivers

A nice lady, let's call her Joan, gets in the back of the car if she feels she has been given a grumpy driver.  I'm happy that every time I take her she looks through the window, smiles happily and gets in the front.  This always makes me happy.

Normandy Veteran

I took my favourite Normandy veteran again today.  It's always interesting to hear his recollections, this time of serving in Egypt and Palestine at the end of the war, in particular about how they had to turn hundreds of refugees away fleeing from a war-torn land.  Nothing changes.

Friday 18 March

Something dodgy?

I'm not sure what to make of this- in the beautiful Essex countryside in the early evening I saw a white van with a bloke standing beside it looking suspicious (I can't explain why- that's just what I thought when I saw him).  With him was another bloke who seemed to be letting go of a rabbit, then a fast-looking dog.  There was a chase but I didn't see the end result.  Is this normal country behaviour?  The schoolchild I was taking seemed somewhat alarmed at witnessing it.  It felt wrong to me even though I have no problem with eating rabbit and recognise that nature is red in tooth and claw.  Am I being hypocritical?

Not Saying Which Day

Offensive tattoos and Facebook name?

The skinhead gentleman I took last week, let's call him Jack, who I wrote about last week (he really, really doesn't like 'fat birds') got into a fight in the local pub last night because of a tattoo on his face of an upside-down crucifix which someone took exception to.   He isn't religious: "It's just a tattoo".  He has many more tattoos to seek to take offence from.  He isn't as racist as he used to be but he's planning to change his name on Facebook to Adolph Hitler to see what reaction he gets.

Forbidden food

I took a person from A&E to a local house for recovering addicts.  It seemed a shame but he/she had to throw £6 of food away on the way home to dispose of evidence of visiting a shop whilst at the hospital.  Inmates get into trouble if food bought from outside is found in their possession.