Spring

The other day I posted about Cherry Blossom and it being Spring hurrah!

Well- Spring? Hurrah!

Chuffing Hayfever? Gaaaahhh!

That is all.

Punishing killers on our roads

Yesterday the family of Rhiannon Bennett, a teenaged girl killed when she was struck by a cyclist on a road in Buckingham in 2007 were present in the House of Commons when their MP presented a 10 minute bill to the house. The Dangerous and reckless Cycling Bill will now receive its second reading in November 2011.

This incident was tragic and I believe that all road users who, by reason of reckless or negligent action, cause the death of another should be punished accordingly.

My slight problem with this matter however is that the outcry over the incident that caused the family to lobby their MP was because the cyclist, Jason Howard was convicted of Dangerous Cycling and fined £2200.

I imagine that Rhiannons family expected a custodial sentence. If this was their expectation I fully understand it. This was not an option available to the Magistrates however as there is no prison sentence tariff for this offence.

I believe the option of sending the responsible party to prison should be open in all cases arising from a death of another being the result of someone’s actions. All I ask is that the punishments are used equally and fairly- driver, rider, or pedestrian.

There are plenty of examples of drivers causing deaths and being 'punished' by paltry fines.

Hollywood Happenings

Yesterday Captain Kirk (William Shatner) made to to Birthday number 80. Well done that man.

Today, Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor)passed away aged 79. Thanks for the memories Liz.

Yay! Spring had sprung.

Cherry Blossom!

Loads of it on the trees on the way in to work this morning.

Crocuses, Daffodils, Snowdrops.

Lovely.

It makes me sad also though. The Cherry Blossom is very important to Japan.

Japan- Tsunami.

Recent days have been quite stressful for the likes of me and my colleagues, what with reports being published after reviews of both police pay and conditions and Public Sector workers pensions. Needless to say, I and many of the folk I work with are not exactly happy.

I woke up this morning however, to see the news about the earthquake off the north east coast of Japan and the devestating effect of the subsequent tsunami. Watching some of the footage of the deluge as it literally ate up the land was horrifying.

It certainly put my minor worries into perspective.

My youngest son was in Japan until November last year and, had everything panned out the way he wanted it to, he would still be out there now. Admittedly he was in Okazaki, some way south of the area hit by the catastrophe but, who knows, he may have decided to take himself to other parts of the country to explore. I don't want to think about the worry I would be going through right now if he had still been out there.

My thoughts are with the Japanes people.

The bond between Man and his Best Friend

I watched the news last night and it included an item and documentary footage about this incident.

L/Cpl Liam Tasker was working in Afghanistan with his explosive detection dog Theo when Liam was shot and killed by a sniper. Sadly the incident seems to have been so traumatic for Theo that he sufferd a siezure and died back at base.

I have worked with dogs and handlers in both the Police and Army and the bond between the members of these little teams is painfuly obvious, particularly within the military.

I am not ashamed to say a tear came to my eye as I watched the item.

A right result!

A few days ago I posted about some friends who had a lot of their bikes stolen. Well, Check this out!