Friday 4 January 2008

the tale of an irish trailer and safety regulations

first things first
adam, who (bless his heart) is undoubtedly a computer geek, has asked me to mention his new programme 'politicianwars' on my blog.
so i am...
so go there...
especially if you are british...
or have some weird need to check out british politicians...
hell man... who am i to judge...

while i am pimping my boy and his programming habit... ;-)
if you would like to learn to play morabaraba (an ancient and traditional African board game)...
well...he done made a programme for that as well!

okay dokay...

last night...it snowed, woke up this morning and the ayrshire hills were white. while this probably does not excite the majority of my readers...
this hot country nomad is still in awe of the white stuff. especially when it sticks and coats everything and changes my green world to a white world!

in preparation for my move, adam had decided to splash out and purchase a trailer. i think he has wised up to how often i move and decided a nice big trailer would save us the time and expense of hiring a van! plus, he can transport gravel to the potholes and logs from the sawmill.
my boy found what he wanted on the internet, an irish company. they arranged to send the trailer over by ferry from belfast to stranraer. this morning he and michelle were up with the birds and off to stranraer to collect one duly delivered trailer. adam was in a rush (well...ain't he always!) as he had an early morning conference call to attend to.
so...while i slept on, unperturbed... adam and michelle set off, braving the snow and ice to collect 'the trailer'.

they arrive at the harbour.
one small problem.

no one is allowed near the commercial freight section of the harbour - without a yellow safety jacket...NO ONE!
my son, flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood...
may purchase said yellow safety jacket for five pounds (a paltry sum to ensure the required safety regulation is upheld).

one small problem.

in their rush to leave, the pair of them had inadvertently forgotten to take any cash, or even a credit card with them.
my boy who in addition to being an intellectual giant is indubitably ... almost as charming as his mother, proceeded with the charm offensive, alas and alack, to no avail. rules is rules and P and O do not lend out yellow safety jackets...not even if you have traveled many, many miles, risking life and limb on the road, all in rather inclement weather.

now't to do but gie back home!

ah ...the nanny state...what does one say...

4 comments:

drowning pisces said...

arghh.. don't ya just hate it when stuff like that happens! Sorry for the dashed plans.. but glad you get to enjoy some of the white stuff. Having been around it and having to shovel tons of it I sometimes take it for granted... it is beautiful indeed!

Me. Here. Right now. said...

I hope he solved the problem and got the trailer! That emergency $20 I keep in the car could have helped him!

Can't wait to hear about your moving adventure.

I'm getting the nomadic feeling myself.

Anonymous said...

Well, we got the trailer in the end :-) I have to say, I tried the full-spectrum of the "charm offensive", beginning with Stage 1: Nice Smile, Silly Me, I Would Be So Obligated if You could Help; moving swiftly through Stage 2: Perhaps In This Particular Case We Could Set Aside These Irksome Provisions (Conspiratorial Wink) and on to Stage 3: I Can't Believe You Morons are Really Going to Make Me Drive All the Way Back to Get My Wallet, Who Makes These Idiotic Policies Anyway I Demand to See the Manager, Do You Know Who I Am?

Unfortunately Stage 3 rarely works. Firstly, I am beginning to suspect that front-line bureaucrats may have their own little sweepstakes running, which is won by provoking the greatest elevation of blood pressure in their victims^B^B^B^B^B^B^B customers. Secondly, they invariably (and quite reasonably) don't know who I am.

Nevertheless, I can say that I know have the high-vis jacket AND they trailer, and they have NOTHING! Well, nothing except the £5 for the jacket. And the £60 fee for shipping the trailer. And a good shot at winning (at least) the Ayrshire division of the Bureaucratic Blood Pressure Stakes.

Heh, that really showed them.

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work.