OT but very tragic

"MartinM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Just been watching the news article about the German coach crash; I saw
the news this morning and it was a couple of hours before I found out
which schools were involved. It was especially saddening as my 13 year
old arrived in Austria this morning on his first ever skiing trip, also
by coach. All the excitement, planning, shopping, apprehension as he
left the country for the first time without us. To have it all end this
way must be insufferable. It's certainly taken the shine off my week.

Thoughts for the bereaved.

Yes, it's very sad. Brought back memories of when Nathan went on a school
ski trip. I admit I worried the entire time he was away. Pleased he was off
enjoying himself, but worried none the less, as part of the maternal job
description.

helen s

wafflycat said:

"MartinM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Just been watching the news article about the German coach crash; I saw
the news this morning and it was a couple of hours before I found out
which schools were involved. It was especially saddening as my 13 year
old arrived in Austria this morning on his first ever skiing trip, also
by coach. All the excitement, planning, shopping, apprehension as he
left the country for the first time without us. To have it all end this
way must be insufferable. It's certainly taken the shine off my week.

Thoughts for the bereaved.

Yes, it's very sad. Brought back memories of when Nathan went on a school
ski trip. I admit I worried the entire time he was away. Pleased he was off
enjoying himself, but worried none the less, as part of the maternal job
description.

He's off to the US with the scouts in the summer; chance of a lifetime
and all that but it's going to be hard as well.

Having done skiing by coach twice I would say that the German Autobahns
are scary, and very busy all night; but that seems to be the way all
school trips do it.

"MartinM" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

He's off to the US with the scouts in the summer; chance of a lifetime
and all that but it's going to be hard as well.

Having done skiing by coach twice I would say that the German Autobahns
are scary, and very busy all night; but that seems to be the way all
school trips do it.

Mines off to the Sinai Desert in the summer on a two week conservation
project. I *know* I shall be worried witless the entire time he is away. I
also know it's the chance of a lifetime for him, and when I was his age, I'd
have loved such an opportunity. As a mother, I could be spending the entire
time on the loo...

Cheers, helen s

MartinM said:

Just been watching the news article about the German coach crash; I saw
the news this morning and it was a couple of hours before I found out
which schools were involved. It was especially saddening as my 13 year
old arrived in Austria this morning on his first ever skiing trip, also
by coach. All the excitement, planning, shopping, apprehension as he
left the country for the first time without us. To have it all end this
way must be insufferable. It's certainly taken the shine off my week.

Half of the UK's schoolkids must be in Austria skiing this week. Before
the schools were announced we were concerned because two of our friends
each had children heading down to Austria on a ski trip. You feel bad
about being relieved it wasn't their schools. A very sad ending to a
trip they would all have been so excited about.

We waved our two off today on a coach to France and a plane to Scotland
on school trips.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

MartinM said:

Just been watching the news article about the German coach crash; I saw
the news this morning and it was a couple of hours before I found out
which schools were involved. It was especially saddening as my 13 year
old arrived in Austria this morning on his first ever skiing trip, also
by coach. All the excitement, planning, shopping, apprehension as he
left the country for the first time without us. To have it all end this
way must be insufferable. It's certainly taken the shine off my week.

Thoughts for the bereaved.

Many years ago I went on a school coach trip to Switzerland and we were
involved in a crash with a motor car somewhere in Europe. No-one was
badly hurt, but there were a few injuries. We thought it all very
exciting, what with the foreign ambulance people and traffic police with
guns on their belts questioning our teachers. We never gave a thought
to what our parents would have gone through had they known. Of course
it was all a long time before mobile phones and easy communications.

--
Brian G

Quoted message said:

Having done skiing by coach twice I would say that the German Autobahns
are scary, and very busy all night; but that seems to be the way all
school trips do it.

All types of travel have an element of risk. If one focussed on the number
of pupils who have accident free coach journeys instead of the few who are
involved in accidents. One would see that the odds are ery uch in favour of
an accident free good time.

vernon said:

Quoted message said:

Having done skiing by coach twice I would say that the German Autobahns
are scary, and very busy all night; but that seems to be the way all
school trips do it.

Quoted message said:

All types of travel have an element of risk. If one focussed on the number
of pupils who have accident free coach journeys instead of the few who are
involved in accidents. One would see that the odds are ery uch in favour of
an accident free good time.

The important thing is that the odds would be a lot better if so many
drivers didn't carelessly assume that everything was normal. "Ho hum,
this is a motorway, you're not allowed to stop on a motorway, so those
red lights must be travelling away from me at least at 50mph. Dum de
dum. I wonder if there's something better on the radio than this [censored]?
OH [censored]!!!"

The only reason it's so much safer to travel by aeroplane is that the
public and he authorities refused to accept a lower standard. Road
traffic causes the considerable carnage it does because in general we
all, public, police, and law courts, are unwilling to accept the
restrcitions on our own car use that would follow from a sterner
attitude. If cars were all driven by profressional drivers, like taxis
which we hired, we wouldn't accept the current risk level for a
minute, because it would be someone else's fault which was putting us
at risk.

--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Chris Malcolm said:

The important thing is that the odds would be a lot better if so many
drivers didn't carelessly assume that everything was normal. "Ho hum,
this is a motorway, you're not allowed to stop on a motorway, so those
red lights must be travelling away from me at least at 50mph. Dum de
dum. I wonder if there's something better on the radio than this [censored]?
OH [censored]!!!"

My son's school didn't ski as soon as they arrived yesterday, just as
well as one coach was several hours late due to snow. In the blurb from
the school they admitted that cost was the major factor in going by
coach. When I saw the bill for the trip (which although steep was still
much much less than us all going) I assumed they would be staying
overnight en route, but they drove straight through.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden]
says...

Quoted message said:

Just been watching the news article about the German coach crash; I saw
the news this morning and it was a couple of hours before I found out
which schools were involved. It was especially saddening as my 13 year
old arrived in Austria this morning on his first ever skiing trip, also
by coach. All the excitement, planning, shopping, apprehension as he
left the country for the first time without us. To have it all end this
way must be insufferable. It's certainly taken the shine off my week.

Thoughts for the bereaved.

Far to close to home for me. THe boy that died was in the same primary school class as my
boy, and I was scout master to him and his older brother. It's very very sad indeed.

What more can I say other than I've thought of little else today, and I just can't imagine
what the poor faimily is going through.

wafflycat said:

Pleased he was off
enjoying himself, but worried none the less, as part of the maternal job
description.

This is one aspect I've to look forward to (but swap the "m" for a "p"😉. It
reminds me of when I used to do a lot of white water canoeing and get in to
one or two minor epics. This was around the time when canoeing stuff ups
used to feature quite a bit on "999". I was watching it one time and was
making commments on how the canoeist shouldn't have got himself into that
situation in the first place ("low head dams" ring alarm bells for most
canoeists). I turned round and my Mum had tears streaming down her face. I
spent the next half hour pointing out that I never did anything as silly as
that and would never be in such danger (thankfully she never knew just how
daft some of the stuff I did was).

Graeme

Tony Raven said:

We waved our two off today on a coach to France and a plane to Scotland
on school trips.

That's unusual. Cost wise I would have thought a coach to Scotland would
beat a plane hands down. Unless they're counting the cleaning bill for all
the kids puking if they take the Biggar road 🙂

Graeme

Graeme Dods said:

Tony Raven said:

We waved our two off today on a coach to France and a plane to Scotland
on school trips.

That's unusual. Cost wise I would have thought a coach to Scotland would
beat a plane hands down. Unless they're counting the cleaning bill for all
the kids puking if they take the Biggar road 🙂

Off to Arran so Ryanair to Prestwick , taxi to ferry, ferry & bus was a
sensible option compared to probably ten hours on a coach.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham

"Graeme Dods" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

wafflycat said:

Pleased he was off
enjoying himself, but worried none the less, as part of the maternal job
description.

This is one aspect I've to look forward to (but swap the "m" for a "p"😉.
It
reminds me of when I used to do a lot of white water canoeing and get in
to
one or two minor epics. This was around the time when canoeing stuff ups
used to feature quite a bit on "999". I was watching it one time and was
making commments on how the canoeist shouldn't have got himself into that
situation in the first place ("low head dams" ring alarm bells for most
canoeists). I turned round and my Mum had tears streaming down her face. I
spent the next half hour pointing out that I never did anything as silly
as
that and would never be in such danger (thankfully she never knew just how
daft some of the stuff I did was).

It's one of the things I remind myself of frequently, not to be
overprotective and keep worst fears under control :-) Combine Nathan being
an only child with being told I could never have children, and that's the
basis for my particular neurosis. I tell myself that unless I allow Nathan
to grow and develop confidence & maturity, I'm not doing the job a mother
should be doing. I also remind myself of how I would have loved to have such
opportunities when I was growing up. So I control the worst excesses of
maternal cottonwool wrapping reasonably well... I think.... Of course, I
have had other parents tell me how irresponsible I am by allowing my child
to cycle on a road where there's all that nasty traffic!

Cheers, helen s

In article <[email hidden]>, Tony Raven

Quoted message said:

Off to Arran so Ryanair to Prestwick , taxi to ferry, ferry & bus
was a sensible option compared to probably ten hours on a coach.

SWAMBO is in London this week. Return from Prestwick to Stansted was
£25-90 including taxes.

And it looks a bit damp on Arran this morning.

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net

In article <[email hidden]>,

wafflycat w*a*ff£y£cat*@£btco*nn£ect.com said:

Of course, I have had other parents tell me how irresponsible I am
by allowing my child to cycle on a road where there's all that
nasty traffic!

Wait until he wants a rather large motor bike :-)

Sandy Morton said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
wafflycat <?> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Of course, I have had other parents tell me how irresponsible I am
by allowing my child to cycle on a road where there's all that
nasty traffic!

Quoted message said:

Wait until he wants a rather large motor bike :-)

Yup, mothers usually don't like that. OTOH, my father, who had decided
I was an unrecoverable sissy after I told him I didn't want to play
rugby because it was too rough, decided maybe I wasn't such a sissy
after all when I came home one day on a large motorcycle with a
glamorous lady on the pillion :-)

I once sat in the ER with a non-urgent smashed nose sympathising with
a distraught mother whose teenage son had been badly smashed up in a
scooter accident. I agreed with her about how dangerous scooters were,
with their bendy frames, tiny wheels, and bodged rear suspension
provoking skids on bumpy corners. She suddenly decided I wasn't such a
nice man after all when I said that what her son needed was a proper
motorycle :-)

No, the broken nose wasn't a motorcycle, it was a wife. Much more
dangerous than motorcycles :-)

--
Chris Malcolm [email hidden] +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

"Sandy Morton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

wafflycat w*a*ff£y£cat*@£btco*nn£ect.com said:

Of course, I have had other parents tell me how irresponsible I am
by allowing my child to cycle on a road where there's all that
nasty traffic!

Wait until he wants a rather large motor bike :-)

Thankfully, so far he has shown no interest at all in motorcycles...

Cheers, helen s

wafflycat said:

Yes, it's very sad. Brought back memories of when Nathan went on a school
ski trip. I admit I worried the entire time he was away. Pleased he was off
enjoying himself, but worried none the less, as part of the maternal job
description.

The school have been uploading photos this week to their website; to
say conditions are perfect there is an understatement; just seen one of
him confidently starting to descend from the top of a mountain, I feel
so pleased for him. I hope he is appreciative of his bedroom that we've
spent all week decorating!