A finger is worth £30,000, 2 lives a mere £10,000

I noticed 2 items in the news recently. In one a man whose negligence led to the death of 2 people and the serious injury of a young child, was fined £10,000. In another, a company where an employee lost one of his fingers in an accident was fined £30,000, with the Health and Safety Executive declaring that "If a proper risk assessment had been carried out, this would never had happened!". To add further to the case, Maurice Agis, the so called "Artist" who had created the structure, has in the past created similar items that have done exactly the same thing, not once but twice previously. So how on earth does the loss of a finger result in a £30K fine and the deaths of 2 people in a mere £10K. I admit that I am quite attached to my own fingers, and would be rightly upset at losing one due to someone else's negligence, but surely negligence resulting in 2 deaths should incur a far higher charge. Perhaps if we ever have the misfortune to have someone injured on one of our attractions, we should promptly beat them to death to keep the costs down.

We spent last weekend in a Mini dealership in the North East providing ice cream and popcorn to possible purchasers of the new Mini convertible. I have never really looked at these cars, as by and large they are too small for what we need. However I must admit that on closer inspection they are quite a quirky motor, the top of the range Cooper S model boasting some 200+ horse power, which considering the size and weight of the car must make it something of an Exocet missile on the road. Anyway I mentioned to my 10 year old daughter that I would buy her one when she passes her test. "I don't really like them Dad," was her reply. Upon inquiring what she did like in the way of automobiles she gave me a quite concise list, "Aston Martin, Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini or Bentley!". Boy is she going to be disappointed.

Come Sunday we are off to London for 4 days of events, followed by another in Chelmsford for the new client we picked up a couple of weeks ago. Once that is out of the way, I can finish the refurbishment work on our Helter Skelter just in time for its annual MOT, then its off to Northallerton May Fair, one of the handful of traditional funfairs we still attend.

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