The other day I was driving down to the supermarket in the late afternoon when I happened upon two young children standing in the middle of the street I live in.
It was a straight stretch of road so I saw them easily and slowed right down.
When I got to within about 30m of them they scurried off the road with big grins on their faces.
It seems they were playing a modern-day version of the chicken game.
I knew one of the girls as she has played with one of my daughters and with her being only 7, I was a little surprised at this stupid game.
She was playing the game with a slightly older girl, probably aged 10 or 11.
This game was being played outside their home.
When I returned down the road some 10-15 minutes later they were still there but they were getting bolder.
I slowed down again but this time they waited till I was within about 20m of them before they left the road.
I then stopped the car, put the window down and politely told them what a stupid game they were playing.
But why did I have to tell them that? Did their parents have any idea where their children were and what they were doing?
The road they were playing on gets its share of young speed demons flying along and these boy racers cannot necessarily be relied on to be aware of all going on around them.
Maybe I'm growing fast into an old fuddy-duddy but surely there are better games for kids to play these days.
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Thank you to the many readers who have contacted me in the last week to wish me well in my new endeavours.
Most of the people who took the time to write or ring I have never met before, so I value them taking the time to pass on their thoughts.
As I said last week, the whingers are generally the loud vocal minority who delight in having a go at any opportunity and I am often the recipient.
The good intelligent readers are too busy getting on with their lives to offer their positive thoughts.
As my parents taught me: If you haven't got anything positive to say, don't say anything at all.
Just think of the positive impact on global warming if those words of wisdom became law.
So much of the world's hot air would remain in the mouths of the world's whingers.
We can but dream!
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If you ever had any doubts that the future of the world was in safe hands, please read the following.
When a group of American fifth-graders, or 11-year-olds, had a science exam they came up with some rather creative answers.
* Water is composed of two gins - Oxygin and Hydrogin. Oxygin is pure gin. Hydrogin is gin and water.
* When you breathe, you inspire. When you do not breathe, you expire.
* H20 is hot water, and CO2 is cold water.
* Three kinds of blood vessels in the human body are arteries, vanes, and caterpillars.
* Blood flows down one leg and up the other.
* Respiration is composed of two acts, first inspiration, and then expectoration.
* The moon is a planet just like the earth, only it is even deader.
* Dew is formed on leaves when the sun shines down on them and makes them perspire.
* The body consists of three parts - the brainium, the borax and the abominable cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs, and the abominable cavity contains the bowels, of which there are five - a, e, I, o and u.
* Vacuum: A large, empty space where the pope lives.
* The skeleton is what is left after the insides have been taken out and the outsides have been taken off. The purpose of the skeleton is something to hitch meat to.
EDITOR: Playing chicken with young lives is wrong
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