I see ... screens

The morning school run is becoming an interesting exercise in dodging children on the pavements. Why is this? You may well wonder. Here is my assessment of this activity that has become like playing Mario Kart.

From the moment we step out of the front door we are faced with a series of ever changing tracks, we have to learn new manoeuvring tricks and each day there is a different way to play out the journey between the house and the bus stop.

From houses all over the neighbourhood children step onto the pavements that are transformed by the magical touches of their tired feet into a virtual track. As they each reach for their phones, games console or iPods the danger begins.

They are transfixed by the screen. The rules say that they are only allowed to look up at people or traffic for a maximum of 5 seconds at any one time. Too much time away from the screen results in penalties of ‘uncool’ being transferred to their loosely carried backpacks. If they obtain a certain number of ‘uncool’ points they will have to enter the school gates with their shoes completely laced up, their ties done up to the collar, trousers worn on the waist with an effective (not just decorative) belt, and the backpack carried across the back on both shoulders (something that is regarded as normal – to anyone over the age of 25) instead of the falling off the single arm style.

Talking, texting, game playing, music ... all activities are permissible as long as the head is bowed and no eye contact is maintained with any other street users. Absolutely NO looking at trees or anything resembling natural surroundings is permissible. These last categories carry the most severe penalties.

On rare occasions (in extreme weather) fingerless gloves may be worn until out of range of parental stares, otherwise they must be discarded with alacrity into the mayhem within the backpack as soon as possible.

Today I realised that being on a different track (the road – as I was driving) was potentially more hazardous because these screen-to-school players are apt to step into oncoming traffic without looking up because 

their 5 second glance tokens have all been used up within metres of their home while waiting for other players to arrive (friends?) – my observation is that when they walk and play in packs they are even more dangerous than in the single-player mode.

I really don’t like this daily game of life where all you see is ... screens.

Pay attention

I’m a walker and I’m a driver. I think sometimes I get the two mixed up.

The other day I was walking and I came up to some pedestrian crossing lights. I waited on the pavement with other pedestrians. You see, I was obeying the signal that told me when it was safe to cross the road and when it was not.

Imagine my surprise when, as the light turned green and I stepped into the road, that an old woman’s hand grabbed my left sleeve and pulled me back onto the pavement.

“But it’s green!” My protests became weak as a car swung in front of me just missing me by inches as it rounded the corner.

“He must have gone through a red light!” I exclaimed, as I started to walk across the road in the company of my new saviour.

“I just couldn’t manage if I saw someone have a bad accident in front of me,” The kind grey-haired woman continued to shake her head as she walked to the opposite pavement with me. We were both glancing over our shoulders and shaking our heads as we turned in unison to watch the errant car continue to speed off into the distance.

“I know the light was green,” I said, “green for us to walk, not for the car.”

It was then that I thought of my own experience as a driver and the times when I had driven through amber-turning-red lights. Then I was convinced that I was perfectly safe and in  control of all variables.

As I walked further into town I realised that I nearly got run over because I forgot what I sometimes do as a driver!

This incident makes me wonder why it often takes serious incidents to see things from a different perspective before we really commit to changing our behaviour.

Five simple words

How did I end up washing out paint brushes when I started out a short while before to put the tent in the loft? Those tasks could never be connected ... could they?

Here's what happened.

It’s quite simple really. It’s my old companion procrastination having a cup of tea with her mate distraction.

I was fed up of stepping around the tent so I decided to put it away (after a few weeks of avoidance) so I thought it made sense to put other things in the loft at the same time.

Some packed up painting equipment was also nearby so I placed those at the bottom of the ladder and then ... that’s when I left the task in hand and went back downstairs. You see, it made sense to put ALL the painting equipment away as I’d finished with it for a while. Therefore I decided to get the extra brushes from the kitchen.

The only problem was I hadn’t finished washing them out yet. (I know, it’s been weeks and they’ve been sat in the white spirit ‘soaking’ so that they’ll be easier to clean.) A quick task, I thought.

Having lain there so long the brushes had become congealed with paint so I had to get more white spirits to free them up. This is when I began to regret not doing it sooner. The paint began to flick all around the sink as I tried to free the sticky bristles. My hands were now covered in paint and white spirit and so were the brushes.

After struggling with them for several minutes I decided one was a lost cause and threw it away. The other two could still be rescued, I thought. This is when I looked out of the window and remembered what I had started to do all that time ago.

The ladder sat waiting for me to lug the tent up it and there I was, in the kitchen, washing month old paint-caked brushes.

The words that ran through my mind when I decided to get the paint brushes now sang a different tune as I attempted to rid my skin of the paint and white spirit smell.

“I might as well just ...” I had said to myself when I remembered them. Now I thought that it would be better to say “I might as well just do it now ...” when the task is fresh then I wouldn’t end up with the twin sisters distraction and procrastination for company when I had other things to do.

I might as well just ... remember that in the future!