Whaaattt?

I'm not much cop at that either.

 

Re mobile phones [I'm not getting involved with politics and/or dictators!] - I only have a basic one. I tried one of the others, but I hated it, and I only use it as a radio when I'm out my walks. Yesterday, I was walking near the high school, and a lad was walking directly towards me - face firmly fixed into his phone. I kept going, wondering how long it would take him to notice me. Turns out - he didn't, and if I hadn't stepped to the side when I was about 3 feet away, I'm sure he'd have just walked straight into me. Even at that point, he barely looked up, and certainly wasn't going to apologise or acknowledge me- he just carried on. I laughed, but they're oblivious.

It isn't just young people either - I've had middle aged, and people my kind of age, do the same, and I sometimes do 'the test' just to see what happens, although they've usually realised a bit sooner that there's actually someone, or something else, within 5 yards of them. I often wonder if they ever see or hear anything else around them - or if they even care.
I hate phones, and rarely use mine, so the last thing I want is to spend my life attached to one 24 hours a day. It seems to be a way of life for many people now.

 

I don't have a phone and am still under 40. I know they can be useful but I think for most they are really unhealthy due to the amount of time they spend looking at them. I'm fed up seeing others walking along when just oblivious to the outside world. I don't care if I don't get acknowledged but they simply miss everything else going on. There is one chap who I see regularly when walking our dogs and I don't think he's capable of looking up. He always has his head pointing down to his phone, looking intently at something, shuffling forward at a glacial pace, we no idea where his dog is. I think he'll have really neck problems in the future because he's been like that for years.
I know many hate cyclists but I still remember the poor guy who got sued because he was riding on the road and some idiot, on her phone, stepped in front of him without looking.

 

I think the problem with the internet in general (on the move or from the sofa) is how much time it eats. If you added up all the waking hrs humanity has used on it so far, it would be quite shocking! All those minutes, never to be retrieved.

Why anyone stares at a phone whilst walking a dog, I have no idea. Surely the point is to have quality time with your pooch whilst breathing in fresh air and admiring the scenery?

 

I've often said good morning to people while out walking only to realise they have them stupid white things stuck in their ears, and then they shout at their phone or totally ignore you, presumably got some loud music going on.

 

Mobile phones!

Last week I was waiting for a bus, and watching a mother and child - about 4 years old - walking on the opposite side of the road. Mother glued to her mobile, bottle of water in her other hand. Child was trailing after her by a few metres. She was oblivious to him crossing a tight T- junction leading to a car park. A car, waiting to turn onto the main road only needed to reverse by a metre to plough the child under his back wheels. Fortunately he didn't, but my heart was in my mouth until I saw the youngster emerge unscathed onto the opposite pavement. At no time did the woman look up from her mobile.
Question - why do some people bother to have children? This one was clearly an encumbrance to his mother, who didn't acknowedge his existence once.

 

I think that 90% of children are accidents, much like the car at the junction. Someone didn't reverse and a child was created. Just a case of more accidents for the next 80 years.

 

This is not so much a moan as a scream of frustration. I have just made about 20 attempts to put a frame round an iphoto, including watching 2 YouTube videos, one of them 4 times over. I have spent over an hr. I still don't have a frame round the #*&#*#& photo. I am typing this as an alternative is throwing my ipad at the wall!


And ... breathe!

An example of how smart (pah! ) devices eat time without adding to one's quality of life.



Been fiddling about online all morning. Haven't even washed up the breakfast things yet.

 

A woman had that problem in the car park I was in today. The machines would only accept cash and she didn't have any. Fortunately a staff member was available and brought out a card machine. He did then disappear again, back into his hiding place, rather than stay by the machine to take money off anybody else in the same situation.

 

Breakfast things washed up. Sandwich eaten. The world is looking better. Calm restored.

 

I think for most they are an inconvenience tbh and only got on a whim. I see a dog as enriching my life but it is a big tie. There are only a few people I see when it's properly persisting it down, the rest are just fair weather walkers that see it more as something to get out of the way, than a chance to enjoy the outdoors. There are plenty of poor dogs that never get anything but tarmac under their paws around here.

 

That wasn't a poor guy. He was riding a bike with no brakes, which is illegal. He killed her.
Cyclist Charlie Alliston guilty over pedestrian's death

 

It's the ones pushing a pram while staring at a phone that get me. How sad is that -they're doing that instead of interacting with their young child. It appals me. I loved that time with mine, and will never forget it.
No wonder so many children have difficulties with interaction with others - nothing to do with Covid etc, it's the r*ddy parenting [lack of] that's the problem IMO.
Always everyone or everything else's fault though eh?
Right - that's my rant for now. I'm off to see how many cyclists/rude runners/mobile phone starers/thoughtless dog owners I encounter on the pavements on my walk....

 

In the days of yore, prams and pushchairs were all designed to face the person pushing it, so they could interact with the baby and keep a close eye on what was going on. Of course nowadays you rarely see a 'proper' pram, and most pushchairs seem to face outwards, so the child can interact with it's wider environment. I'm not sure that's such a great idea.

 

That isn't the case I was referring to
Robert Hazeldean: Thousands raised for cyclist's legal bill

There is plenty more online about it but essential the woman was looking at her phone and stepped straight out in front of him, giving him no time to react. She's lucky he wasnt driving a car.
If he would have sued her from the start then he would have probably won a counter claim.