rant alert
Oct. 21st, 2009 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ewein2412sometimes britain scares me a little. All this in the last two weeks:
Here is the story of the mother who was not allowed to buy a bottle of wine in a supermarket (yes, that would be MORRISONS) because her 17-year-old daughter was shopping with her.
Here is the story of the man who was sentenced to 18 months in jail because he is an idiot (he gave his 3-year-old niece a cigarette and filmed it while all her cousins watched and laughed). While I appreciate that it is BAD to give a three-year-old a cigarette, there is something about this sentence that doesn't rest easily with me. (Did you know that the term "passive smoking" was coined in Nazi Germany?--I am not a smoker, but I am agog. Suddenly all the references to the "anti-smoking Gestapo" make a lot more sense. Hitler's anti-tobacco campaign was years ahead of its time.)
But what I *really* want to rant about is the fact that at our local big homewares outlet (yes, that would be DUNELM MILL) you are not allowed to buy KNITTING NEEDLES if you are under 25. Let's think about this. You could, for example, have been flying an F16 for 5 years in Iraq, but you are not allowed to KNIT in Perth. You could be a brain surgeon, but you are not allowed to knit in Perth. You could be John Keats and live your WHOLE LIFE without being allowed to knit in Perth.
I think I'll stop there.
Sara was the one who wanted the knitting needles, incidentally. After the Morrisons-mother-daughter-wine incident, she was very, very worried that we would be stopped at the checkout in Dunelm Mill and not allowed to buy our 8 mm knitting needles (the very fat ones that would be about as dangerous as a STICK off a bush in the garden, which we could have for free instead of £ 2.85). But I, cravenly, did not inform the cash register assistant that I was buying them for my 12-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER. TO KNIT WITH.
and the cash register assistant did not ask me for ID.
Here is the story of the mother who was not allowed to buy a bottle of wine in a supermarket (yes, that would be MORRISONS) because her 17-year-old daughter was shopping with her.
Here is the story of the man who was sentenced to 18 months in jail because he is an idiot (he gave his 3-year-old niece a cigarette and filmed it while all her cousins watched and laughed). While I appreciate that it is BAD to give a three-year-old a cigarette, there is something about this sentence that doesn't rest easily with me. (Did you know that the term "passive smoking" was coined in Nazi Germany?--I am not a smoker, but I am agog. Suddenly all the references to the "anti-smoking Gestapo" make a lot more sense. Hitler's anti-tobacco campaign was years ahead of its time.)
But what I *really* want to rant about is the fact that at our local big homewares outlet (yes, that would be DUNELM MILL) you are not allowed to buy KNITTING NEEDLES if you are under 25. Let's think about this. You could, for example, have been flying an F16 for 5 years in Iraq, but you are not allowed to KNIT in Perth. You could be a brain surgeon, but you are not allowed to knit in Perth. You could be John Keats and live your WHOLE LIFE without being allowed to knit in Perth.
I think I'll stop there.
Sara was the one who wanted the knitting needles, incidentally. After the Morrisons-mother-daughter-wine incident, she was very, very worried that we would be stopped at the checkout in Dunelm Mill and not allowed to buy our 8 mm knitting needles (the very fat ones that would be about as dangerous as a STICK off a bush in the garden, which we could have for free instead of £ 2.85). But I, cravenly, did not inform the cash register assistant that I was buying them for my 12-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER. TO KNIT WITH.
and the cash register assistant did not ask me for ID.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Tanita Says :)
Date: 2009-10-21 11:27 am (UTC)While I think the woman should have just shown ID and moved on -- if they ask for it, you show it, no big deal -- it is interesting to me how much more people in the UK are touchy about alcohol. In the States, if someone had accused a mother of buying for her teen, she would have bristled and really laid into them, because that's clearly illegal. The drink laws in the UK are bewildering to us, because we've seen kids as young as sixteen drinking and as young as 18 in pubs. I'm not sure what the hysteria is about.
However... it does boggle the mind to think that people over 25 in Perth will not have homicidal feelings when faced with knitting needles. And that everyone under 25 is both clumsy and/or apparently violent. Odd how they've just arbitrarily decided on a magical age.
Re: Tanita Says :).
Date: 2009-10-21 12:17 pm (UTC)moronwoman who threatened to REPORT ME FOR CHILD ABUSE because I picked up an empty macdonald's cup her litterbug son had tossed on the pavement and asked her if he was finished with it.OMFG.
I am afraid it's not just Perth that the under-25 knitting needle policy applies to... it's some kind of new national thing. I can't remember what it's called (um... Insane Paranoia? Guidelines for the Epicly Stupid?). anyway it's nationwide rather than Tayside-wide, I just happen to live in Perth.
Re: Tanita Says :).
Date: 2009-10-21 01:12 pm (UTC)I found this article after some stealth googling, but there doesn't seem to be much online about it.
Re: Tanita Says :).
Date: 2009-10-21 04:27 pm (UTC)Re: Tanita Says :)
Date: 2009-10-22 05:16 am (UTC)Not necessarily--in some states, parents are allowed to give their own children alcohol in their own home (I grew up in one of them--my mom was never challenged in the liquor store, but a clerk in a grocery store did stop me from carrying the grocery bags out to the parking lot because they had wine in them).
Queen Longwindia of Longwindania...
Date: 2009-10-22 04:49 pm (UTC)Re: Queen Longwindia of Longwindania...
Date: 2009-10-22 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 10:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 11:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 12:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 12:18 pm (UTC)When King's Cross got bombed the second time I was in the UK, it wasn't great but it was business as usual, the buses from Cambridge still let me off there and you had to find a way to get to a tube somehow. It was just the IRA playing up again, in the media.
Since 2001 the UK seems to have become Big Brother with nary an organised resistance - from what I read you have more cameras in public spaces than anyone (in comparison with the number of population).
My old English teacher used to be so proud the Brits didn't even have to carry regular ID and didn't have to show it to police officers unless they caught you red-handed, when I was at school.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 12:27 pm (UTC)Also, what you say about the lack of "organized resistance" crystallizes a problem I have not been able to pinpoint. No one DOES anything about it. (and what I want to know is: WHO IS making up the rules???)
I thought this post might press your buttons, somehow.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 12:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 12:41 pm (UTC)I totally enjoyed the whole experience and it made complete sense for the mores of the time that she eventually had to return to being a lady (and that her flying squad remembered her for what she actually did anyway).
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 12:47 pm (UTC)I fear the new WWII thing I am working on now has a more overtly evil German baddie (along with goodies and baddies on all fronts, but still). In everything I write I think, hmmm. What will
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 12:57 pm (UTC)But - on my account - please don't bridle your imagination because of people you know who might be offended.
It's a truism you can never please everyone, but I think it should also be a truism that you shouldn't even aim at pleasing everyone as that is a very sick mindset to have.
Taken to its utmost consequence wouldn't that mean that everything is beige and same? Just in case!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 01:00 pm (UTC)Re the Link
Date: 2009-10-21 12:45 pm (UTC)Wow. I wonder when they'll import that here.
And of course having them on the toilet is positively perverse considering those rules about minors you just named.
Re: Re the Link
Date: 2009-10-21 12:50 pm (UTC)but as I have pointed out before, this is the land where you can buy a BRA for a FOUR YEAR OLD in the SUPERMARKET (yes, that would be TESCO)
Re: Re the Link
Date: 2009-10-21 12:57 pm (UTC)Tanita Says :)
Date: 2009-10-21 04:41 pm (UTC)I wonder if they have to take a citizenship test before they get the ID?
Re: Tanita Says :)
Date: 2009-10-21 04:44 pm (UTC)Yes, my 12-year-old Sara passed her National Entitlement application with flying colors because she was able to prove her residence with a BANK STATEMENT.
Re: Tanita Says :)
Date: 2009-10-21 06:21 pm (UTC)Re: Tanita Says :)
Date: 2009-10-22 04:51 pm (UTC)GO, Scotland. Although, the bank statement thing is a bit ...something. Tacky?
Re: Tanita Says :)
Date: 2009-10-22 05:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 01:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 01:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 01:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 09:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 01:04 pm (UTC)Go go rebel Sara!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 01:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 01:51 pm (UTC)...wait, there was content? Oh, right, people are still weird as hell. O_o
...
...sheeeeep.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 04:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 03:12 pm (UTC)8mm needles are the perfect way to knit two feet of scarf overnight.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 04:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 04:41 pm (UTC)One of my favorite knitting designers is 24 and lives in Edinburgh. So, apparently, she's not allowed to buy knitting needles? It's still weird.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 04:51 pm (UTC)One of my favorite knitting designers is 24 and lives in Edinburgh
I just Rest My Rant. I bet she's real happy about that.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 04:49 pm (UTC)In my city there are some strange rules (as: 'you can't eat in the square or in the streets') and we have a lot of politicians that want to propose some new strange rules (but every rule has some racist/homophobic/discriminant reason to be).
So it's a different problem, I think.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 04:54 pm (UTC)One of Perth & Kinross council's great ones was the one where you could order alcohol with your meal if you ate it with a knife and fork (like a pizza), but not if you ate it with your fingers (like a burger).
give me strength.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 04:57 pm (UTC)But are the rules followed by the buyers and the sellers?
Because here in Italy we have many rules about child safety but most of the times the seller (as cigarette sellers or alchol sellers) don't follow them.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 08:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 12:45 am (UTC)Not quite as extreme, it was just the reading/hearing both stories in such close succession that was strange to me.
And now I will actually work on my digital painting assignment...
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 05:47 pm (UTC)Gramma was 74!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-22 05:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 06:59 am (UTC)http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/
Enjoy!