What is it with people?

That exchange between HildaW and Supernana about knitted wings made me laugh and really cheered me up on a depressing drizzly day.
Thank you both

Love

Does anyone know that they were planning to ban dogs from Bamburgh beach last year? Thankfully it didn't happen as 90% of the people walking on the beach seem to have a dog [including us] and all the locals walk their dogs there. Strange ideas that councils have sometimes.

Don't see why they can't have barriers. Also think that people in four wheel drives think they can do what they like [wonder how many of the rescued cars are wheel drive?]. I suppose that people are tempted to risk it because you have such a long wait for the tide to turn? Do they have a board saying how many people have been stranded each year with photos? Think they show them at the lifeboat station at Seahouses. It scares me going across it even when I know it's safe!

Rising bollards would be the answer - or of course a stonking great charge for needing to be rescued as has been suggested.

Mmm! What with mussed up hair and droopy wings I'd not be a very pretty sight...

Very chic, but might be a problem if it gets wet.

I thought that fluffy angora might look chic!

Oh jolly good, 4 ply of double knit?

HildaW.......I'm knitting a pair of wings....

Super..............you mean you cant fly?

Some folk think that they're impervious to pain. And of course, when they're proved wrong, there's always some decent soul who will risk life and limb to come to the rescue. Most animals have far more common sense. I might even climb a tree to rescue a cat [providing someone gives me a leg-up].

It should be a straight £1.000 fine for the towing if you are so stupid to ignore the tide's,you obviously are aware of the danger's and the time's so why take the chance and risk other people's safety.

I know someone who was almost trapped by the tide and had to be rescued. She was on holiday with her mother and the whole thing really traumatised her. The car was a right off as were the contents including their handbags , cheque books , pension books etc. I am sure she would have gladly paid up if asked as she felt so guilty about it.

You have to pay to be towed off certain roads so why not charge for causeway rescue. Place warning signs at either end of causeway saying it is dangerous to ignore the tide and include a penalty charge for rescue. I am sure genuine breakdowns would happily pay the charge too just to be rescued.

I think with some people, no matter how clear you make it that something is unsafe or not wise, they will do it anyway. When we lived in Northern Ireland, we visited a local beach onto which you could drive your car. This is fairly common in Ulster. An American serviceman, his wife and small child were driving up and down the beach just above the tide line in a mini. The only other people on the beach were a couple of fishermen, DH, myself and our children. My husband tried to warn the man in the car that the tide was on the turn and he should move his car further up the beach, or off it altogether. He ignored the warning and almost before he knew it, he was in trouble with water washing round the wheels and unable to move. We helped the passengers out of the car and made a futile effort to move the vehicle (getting soaked to the waist in the process) while one of the fishermen went to find a local farmer who had a tractor. By the time the tractor arrived, the car was full of water which was up to the level of the windows. He was shamefaced, his wife was very shaken, and his car was ruined. At least they were safe.

The trouble is we seem to be moving away from developing a sense of responsibility for our own actions with a lot of people relying on councils, institutions and society in general to safeguard their every action. I do agree that there was a time when, for example, some playgrounds were jolly dangerous - rusty old slides and ricketty swings and perhaps seat belts in cars is a good idea, but its gone much too far the other way. Nowadays so many folks seem to feel they can blame anyone else other than themselves when things go wrong. I think we need to go back to teaching children how to cross roads safely, use public transport properly, conduct themselves in public properly etc etc. Just today I saw something that made me worry about the lack of common sense and awareness by some. On a completely packed Park and Ride bus that uses a busy dual carriageway as part of its route a young Mum was sat with two babies whilst the push chair was sat empty taking up all the buggy/disabled bay. One baby was less than 6 months and the other (her friend's) no more than 9 months. If that bus had had to stop for anything I dread what might have happened. At one point the elder baby was crawling on the floor! This was no young mother but a well dressed woman in her late 20's with a very expensive double buggy and designer baby bag.

Having taken holiday cottages on Lindisfarne a few times over the years, there's absolutely no way I would consider driving on the causeway outwith the safe times. Some locals do this however - they seem to know how long they've got before things get dodgy, and this maybe gives visitors the wrong message. The tide creeps in without you seeing it do so, and before you know it you're in trouble. Our landlady's husband was the local Coastguard and he told us some horrific stories. In fact when we were there a few years ago, we drove along the Causeway and saw a damaged Range Rover slewed to the side. Apparently the driver was a senior policeman from the north of England and had ignored the signs. He also had a young family. Thankfully they were saved.

absentgrana, I don't think you live in an area with automatic barriers on railway lines ...people still try to beat the barrier ...thinking they've time or just for the adrenaline rush

FlicketyB Automatic barriers have been suggested. I just wonder how easy they would be to use as high tide doesn't happen at the same time every day all year round. No doubt, there is a technical solution to the problem, but then how much would it cost? Was it the Scarlet Pimpernel who waited for the tide to come in at Mont St Michel before making his escape as half the French army drowned? You couldn't do that these days as it's no longer an island, but then there's no call for rescuing aristocrats from the guillotine. OMG I really have lost it! I must get back to work.

The causeway does not look as though it would cause you any problems when the tide is out and I think these idiots and fooled by this, then fall foul to the tides which at certain times can be fast moving and deep in that area.

I know Lindisfarne and recently read that one visitor was warned by locals that he was leaving his journey late and was risking being overtaken by the tide. He dismissed all these warnings saying that they were just scare tactics and the causeway would be usable for hours. Two hours later he, his wife and three children UNDER 5 were rescued in the nick of time.

I think a mandatory £1,000 fine would work well, obviously excluding those who left in time but broke down or faced other force majeure.

The other thing would be automatic barriers, like a level crossing, and anyone who drove round them and got trapped could then be charged with dangerous driving, and, if they had passengers, endangering the lives of others and risk a fine, prison or losing their license.

Rescue the idiots and then give them some 'relative' of a Darwin Award — awards for people stupid enough to almost prevent their genes from getting to the next generation. Real Darwin Awards are for the ones who, by their own stupidity, succeed.

www.darwinawards.com/