Some people have commented that I seem to have ‘disappeared’ for the past couple of weeks, and in a sense they are right. Of course there is a story, which is to do with a serious computer failure, and the chain of events that occurred in trying to get it repaired under guarantee. Briefly it has taken the best part of 2 weeks to obtain the label to stick on the box to send it back! In the meantime I have managed to borrow a temporary replacement which will keep me going until I get my own returned. Other things causing delay and interruption have happened too, but they are stories for another occasion. So it is apologies to everyone, but I’m back in action again now.
Accidents and delays on the M 4, of which there have been several recently, provide unexpected ‘space’ for thinking about issues, and mental health comes quickly to mind as you watch the antics of some of the drivers around you. But it is the gawpers in the ‘other’ carriageway that really get to me. Everything seems to slow or stop in both directions simply because some person has had the misfortune to have an accident – why does everyone travelling in the opposite direction have to slow almost to a stop to have a good look at the wreckage of their cars/caravans/bodies? I suppose there is some explanation for this but I can’t think what it is. However, back to the M 4 and a recent jam. I was idly watching other drivers walking around the carriageway, some smoking, and wondered whether a motorway is a public space as it is owned by a public agency?Are you allowed to smoke when walking around a motorway? In view of the potential danger might this be excused as a ‘last request’? I didn’t demand that they all put their cigarettes out as they already looked quite angry to me, but perhaps I should have done for the sake of all the non smokers also caught up in the jam – not that many people seemed to be bothered enough to turn off their engines to reduce the carbon emissions – but maybe the things we chose to ‘pick’ on are very specific and personal?(Yup, this also has links to my thinking about stigma and how it occurs – and that won’t surprise those who know me). All a bit of nonsense really, but it led me on to wondering about the individuals contained in a nearby van used for transporting prisoners, (they seemed to be quite rowdy and banging on the sides of the van – but maybe that was enforced nicotine withdrawal) - and what is happening in the prison service? That led to fantasy’s about prisoners being released onto the roadway outside their prisons several times a day to allow them their human right to smoke. Would a gathering of several hundred prisoners constitute an illegal group which had to be moved on, and to where? Then how would all this be managed?? With difficulty I would think – but are prisons exempt? It seems that the ‘rules’ are being applied quite vigorously to public buildings and similar institutions, regardless of the felt needs of some of the people who use them, and are very definitely in support of the overall health of staff working in them – and I agree with that. But are not prison staff also affected by second hand smoke, and what of the visitors and children using the facilities to see their relatives? So, has smoking been banned in prisons, and if not why not? And surely, if we are seriously worried about the effect on public health of noxious emissions, would not a law which makes drivers switch off their engines in traffic jams have a much greater effect on the general improvement of public health? I feel letter to Dr Brian Gibbon coming on, and if I get a reply I will let you know, but I won’t hold my breath.
