First published May 17, 2006I am close enough to my local shops to be able to walk home - aided if necessary by a supermarket trolley. If it is a nice day, I like to stop on the way back, sit down in a little park, have a cigarette and watch the world go by.
Yesterday I did just that. This time however, I noticed something.
I was being nagged!
First I noticed the new "warning" labels on my brand of cigarettes. You know the sort - the ones kids generally laugh at, and no one else takes any notice off. All nicely planned and designed by people who poison non-drivers like me with their car fumes.
Then I noticed the warning on the supermarket trolley. Do parents really need to be to told not to leave children unattended? If so, why are they allowed to have children in the first bloody place!
O.K. I realise it is quite likely the supermarket is covering it's arse in case any parent loses their child in a supermarket and phones their lawyer before they phone the police.
Then of course, the parents will have to phone Channel 7's six o' clock news, so they can appear on our screens tearfully complaining that the supermarket did not take adequate measures to ensure their child was not lost or abducted. Just for good measure, they will also blame the government. That always goes down well with Sydney's populist media.
Having finished my anti-social and life threatening cigarette, (had I been smoking pot - a so called recreational drug, I would have no shortage of people sticking up for my right to do so), I continued my walk.
More nagging.
As I waited to cross the road, six different signs warned me of various dangers ranging from cars to cyclists.
Now you know why I always finish with, "wherever you may be - be safe,"
I have been conditioned by the Nanny State.
Wherever you may be - be safe
Copyright Mike Hitchen Online, Lane Cove, NSW, Australia. All rights reserved
