Cake, canoes and conservatories

I have now returned from a lovely holiday in Slovenia where exploring the country and eating chocolate cake for elevenses was the order of the day.  Despite the best effort of Thomson’s to scupper the plans by giving totally the wrong accommodation address (hotel details given not self catering apartment as booked – just as well I like a mystery tour), providing three contact numbers that were dead lines, failing to give the hire car company the necessary paperwork and generally being somewhat on the lax side...............the trip was great, beautiful scenery, delightful local people and a country where it was easy to get around.  Once again I noticed how mainland European countries are, shall we say, lacking in what they consider to be necessary health and safety requirements.

Of the many building sites and road works I encountered, only two hard hats were visible (and I believe these were being used for sun protection rather than to stop the wearers being clouted on the head by falling objects.  One chap had a wheelbarrow right at the top of a multi storey building without any form of guarding to stop it rolling off.  Another guy was happily chainsawing the roof timbers on his house and they were dropping through to where his mate was standing (un-hatted of course) and he simply stepped aside as each one fell.

The amount of children out on the lakes paddling canoes (whilst standing up no less) without a single lifejacket between them amazed me – the oldest child could only have been around nine years old.  In fact nowhere around the lakes were lifebelt rings installed.  One young boy stood on a body-board and paddled from one end of the lake to the other.  Despite these incidents nobody fell in the water and drowned and no site workers were left with a hammer sticking out of their skull so I guess perhaps we are rather over the top in the UK with the rules and regulations.  However, I am still not going for a paddle without my lifejacket, length of rope securing me to the promenade and a safety flare in my hand (you can never be too careful).

Since returning to Blighty I have received another offer for old age products.................this time it is ‘Retirement Homes in your Area’.  I am seriously thinking about contacting these folks and asking for more information as they are obviously determined to make a sale.  It is almost as ridiculous as the leaflet posted through my letterbox when I lived in a first floor flat............”Let Us Give You A Free Quote For Your New Conservatory”.................great bit of market research and a total lack of sense on the part of the delivery person.  Yes please, come along and quote – do I get a discount for your stupidity?