Reply to: Police defend drowning death case

[DBA_bloke]

In the summer hols...

Riff-raff.

[EternalOptimist]

At 10 years old I was living in house with 1 mile of river at the end and managed not to drown myself.

We had tunnels in the garden each about 0.5miles in length - not only did we play in them they were a victorian play area designed for children! The only time anyone got seriously hurt was when the local protection racket sent the heavies around and they got the sh*t kicked out of them!

We used to collect broken trees to make huts out of and the slide was the side of a hill where we wore down the grass and used an old blanket to slide on.

The only reason that we have to molly coddle kids these days is to cover for the total and utter failure of parents to teach them to assess risks. Little things like do not talk to strangers, be careful of water, look right and left before crossing the road.

These days if a child fell down someone would be looking at who to sue. In my day we used to compare bruises to see who had the biggest!

The only time we saw the parents was when we needed feeding - and then only for dinner! Breakfast I managed myself.


Bu**er you are making me sound old now!

In the summer hols we used to get up at 8 -ish, fill a lemonade bottle with tap water, wrap a sugar buttie in the bread wrapper and head off to the farms outside Liverpool. If we came back before it was dark we got battered for coming home too early.
We had one guy who lost three toes when a pile of bricks fell on his foot, another guy got a fractured skull during a raid, as we ran to escape the other gang he slipped while climbing a school fence and was left dangling upside down with the fence spike up his welly.
Wellys were posh footwear in Bootle when I was ten. There were no serious incidents involving water but I guess everyone had a fair few close shaves.



p.s. a 'Raid' - two gangs of feral youths about 20 strong face each other and hurl bricks and stones at each other. The reason that we ran that day was because 'Pongo' , the only black lad we knew in the whole of Bootle, pulled a machete on us. The git.

[DBA_bloke]

Bollocks. My mates and I used to play all day on Wimbledon Common, when we were that age, which included building a raft and scooting around on Kingsmere (the lake you see on the left when driving down Roehampton Hill).

Doesn't count: the Wombles would have helped you out, if you ever got into difficulty. They were good like that.

[OwlHoot]

Interesting no-one has mentioned the folly of letting young children (10 & less) play alone next to a water hazard. Look at the ages, 10,9,9,8,8 hardly competent to supervise each other in a dangerous environment

Bollocks. My mates and I used to play all day on Wimbledon Common, when we were that age, which included building a raft and scooting around on Kingsmere (the lake you see on the left when driving down Roehampton Hill).

[Troll]

Which part is bollox?

Quit stalking me...

[zathras]

Interesting no-one has mentioned the folly of letting young children (10 & less) play alone next to a water hazard. Look at the ages, 10,9,9,8,8 hardly competent to supervise each other in a dangerous environment I wouldn't even leave kids that age alone in the house while I popped to the shops. Should be a law against leaving under 13's unsupervised unfortunately there isn't.

At 10 years old I was living in house with 1 mile of river at the end and managed not to drown myself.

We had tunnels in the garden each about 0.5miles in length - not only did we play in them they were a victorian play area designed for children! The only time anyone got seriously hurt was when the local protection racket sent the heavies around and they got the sh*t kicked out of them!

We used to collect broken trees to make huts out of and the slide was the side of a hill where we wore down the grass and used an old blanket to slide on.

The only reason that we have to molly coddle kids these days is to cover for the total and utter failure of parents to teach them to assess risks. Little things like do not talk to strangers, be careful of water, look right and left before crossing the road.

These days if a child fell down someone would be looking at who to sue. In my day we used to compare bruises to see who had the biggest!

The only time we saw the parents was when we needed feeding - and then only for dinner! Breakfast I managed myself.


Bu**er you are making me sound old now!

[daviejones]

Bollocks

Which part is bollox?

[Mailman]

Interesting no-one has mentioned the folly of letting young children (10 & less) play alone next to a water hazard. Look at the ages, 10,9,9,8,8 hardly competent to supervise each other in a dangerous environment I wouldn't even leave kids that age alone in the house while I popped to the shops. Should be a law against leaving under 13's unsupervised unfortunately there isn't.

Its thinking like yours that leads to kids like this not knowing what to do when they find themselves in these situations.

As a kid in NZ we were doing far more "dangerous" things in a spare time at much younger ages. Then again, being a "outdoor" society we were probably much more "wise" to our surroundings than the molly coddled kids of today.

Having said that, there is no way Id let me kids swim alone like that!

Mailman

[Sysman]

The reason that they're dangerous is the stuff at the bottom. I',m not talking about the shopping trolleys, bikes and wire that can trap you - I'm talking about mud. Stinking, oozing, glutenous mud that sucks you down and keeps you there... and also hides you after you've thrashed about in it for a minute or 2.

Thanks for pointing that out.

I was thinking of the bikes and broken glass side of it. A mate at college had the tendons in his foot sliced through by a broken bottle when he was in a pond. He was wearing footwear that he thought would protect him, but it didn't.

You ain't gonna rescue anyone if you're injured yourself. You've just doubled the problem.

(also a BSAC qualified life saver, unfortunately a long time ago)

[pisces]

It wasn't a pond it was a quarry lake.












<------------------- Token Eye Roll

[Churchill]

If there was a kid in the water, seen or unseen, in a village pond, I would go in to try to help. No question. I have seen a lot of village ponds and I would not advise jumping or diving. Walking in would work for me

Have you ever tried walking in 6ft of mud/silt/sediment?

[EternalOptimist]

If there was a kid in the water, seen or unseen, in a village pond, I would go in to try to help. No question. I have seen a lot of village ponds and I would not advise jumping or diving. Walking in would work for me

[cojak]

True, there's risk and then there's risk. Yet, I feel you're playing devils advocate here. I've known you sort out people panicking in black water / with a duff regulator.

So, oh do come on Jacko, I know you well enough that you'll have run down and between the take off and before hitting the water you'll have worked out the dangers, worked out how to limit them, and have a fully worked out plan about what to do to minimise the risk to everyone, even considered what the cowardly planks stood on the bank playing with themselves might do to screw things up.

threaded in 'bronze medalion' mode

Thank you Churchill. Quite.

Yes, Threaded I have done those things. I have spent over 20 years of my recreational life either in or on the water.

Water is a dangerous and unforgiving medium. I have pulled people from lakes, rivers and the sea but THE most dangerous environment is the 'harmless' village pond. It can be 6 inches or 6 feet deep and you'll never know until you jump (or worse, dive) in.

The reason that they're dangerous is the stuff at the bottom. I',m not talking about the shopping trolleys, bikes and wire that can trap you - I'm talking about mud. Stinking, oozing, glutenous mud that sucks you down and keeps you there... and also hides you after you've thrashed about in it for a minute or 2.

So yes, I have performed rescues, but I've also let the professionals do the work - that's the harder decision to make because any fool can jump in.

I praise everyone that rescues people, but I don't condemn those that don't.

I would love to be able to say "I'd do it" - but I am not ignorant of the dangers and consequences of getting it wrong, both for my myself and my family.

If you want a real ethical dilemma, try the 'husband and wife diving together when things go wrong' scenario, then add 'children back at home' to the mix. That'll get your juices flowing.

[Churchill]

Cojak

my respect for the little guy who lost his life is immeasurable. my respect for you is close to zero.

That's because you're looking at this from an emotional point of view, not from a logical one.

Jacko is a trained life saver. She is qualified to make the assessment.

Anyway, enough of that. She's big enough to look after herself.

[xoggoth]

Taxmen/politicians are human? Not in my book. Anyway throwing them back would get you into trouble. Easier to just pretend not to notice.