It was one of my old granny’s little sayings, which I suspect had more to do with her strong Roman Catholic faith than it did with any deep, philosophical convictions. Without getting too perturbed about it, I suppose it’s something I’ve always tended to believe.
Herself and I were walking along the Havre des Pas promenade early last week, enjoying a break from the rain which had spoiled most of the day for us, and without giving anything a great deal of thought I happened to glance to my left at a kid’s pushchair parked against a bench.
I can’t recall what we were discussing at the time, but the discourse was interrupted by this woman screeching at the top of her voice: ‘What are you gawping at? Dirty old git.’ My sideways glance did indeed turn into something closer to a stare, as I wondered firstly who did the screeching and, secondly, what it was all about.
It was then, and only then, that I realised she was breast feeding a child and, somewhat aggressively and certainly mistakenly, sounded off at me in no uncertain terms because she believed I was staring at her.
Thankfully, Herself was with me and without a moment’s thought took my arm and marched us off towards the park’s bathing pool. Had I been on my own, or with anyone else but her, I’d have probably been tempted to make a sarcastic quip or three – something along the lines of having seen ‘more of those than you’ve had hot dinners…’ – but ever since I tackled a selfish car driver about which part of ‘disabled parking only’ she didn’t understand, I’ve always found that my better half really has more sense than I have when it comes to avoiding confrontations.
Quite by coincidence, this newspaper that day carried a letter on breast feeding in public from Barbara Clarke, whose fairly frequent offerings are invariably thought provoking, sometimes funny, but always expressing views which are honestly and sincerely held and certainly not in any way mischievous.
I happen not to agree with Mrs Clarke’s views on this topic, but I will defend to the hilt her absolute right to hold those views and have the courage to express them publicly. Furthermore, I think it is abhorrent that one of the online commentators – who signed herself Khtjsy – spoiled what was an otherwise perfectly reasonable comment opposing the views Mrs Clarke, by thanking her for ‘sharing your address’ which she (Khtjsy) had placed on the local breast-feeding support web page.
She also observed that because of this, Mrs Clarke could expect to receive invitations to some events this year. Why didn’t she just say that ‘I’ve given further publicity to your address in the hope that you receive some really offensive hate mail’? This is online bullying and harassment of the worst kind and, as I said earlier, I find it abhorrent. I should also add that I don’t know Barbara Clarke, and to the best of my knowledge we’ve never met.
IN another coincidence, on the same day that news broke that our elected representative in the Big House are poised to outlaw the feeding of seagulls, making it punishable with a hefty £1,000 fine, I saw a terrified toddler attacked by a gull for the sake of a sandwich, and a certainly shaken adult suffer the same fate minutes later – losing an ice cream in the process.
While there’s no doubt in my mind that feeding these dangerous nuisances should be an offence, I think legislating will be a waste of time because of the marked reluctance of the police – all 13 forces – to give effect to another dangerous nuisance, the irresponsible dog owner. A friend told me recently that day in and day out he sees police officers more concerned with booking cars parked for longer than the seven days on one stretch of road, yet they never do anything about dogs running loose on the nearby promenade and beach.
AND finally… Prime Minister Ian Gorst can’t be faulted in his recent decision-making over the Idependent Jersey Care Inquiry. What a pity that Sam Mézec doesn’t like the idea of making unpopular decisions. The boy could be seeking alternative employment next year.
