Last Saturday, Chuck in Seattle at http://almostoneaday.blogspot.com/ posted a photo of a truckload of anchors secured with cables, but there were no sides on the truck to prevent either their possible fall (okay, unlikely, but possible!) or someone's purposely gouging himself on an anchor's hook to make an insurance claim. I know in the US we're always watchful for this kind of thing, and we've all read signs that warn you of "dangers" that could be avoided by common sense. Here you're expected to use common sense, and too bad for you if you don't, since at least so far people aren't litigation-happy. But this sign in Kalemegdan Park surprised me. You can read what it says, but I guess that means, "Go ahead and walk here if you want, but watch out." I'm dedicating this post to Chuck, and to Strangetastes in Saint Louis at http://saintlouismodailyphoto.blogspot.com/ , since he's a lawyer! And thank you to my friend Melissa for letting me borrow her photo from her site; not sure if you can enlarge this one.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Risk your life!
Last Saturday, Chuck in Seattle at http://almostoneaday.blogspot.com/ posted a photo of a truckload of anchors secured with cables, but there were no sides on the truck to prevent either their possible fall (okay, unlikely, but possible!) or someone's purposely gouging himself on an anchor's hook to make an insurance claim. I know in the US we're always watchful for this kind of thing, and we've all read signs that warn you of "dangers" that could be avoided by common sense. Here you're expected to use common sense, and too bad for you if you don't, since at least so far people aren't litigation-happy. But this sign in Kalemegdan Park surprised me. You can read what it says, but I guess that means, "Go ahead and walk here if you want, but watch out." I'm dedicating this post to Chuck, and to Strangetastes in Saint Louis at http://saintlouismodailyphoto.blogspot.com/ , since he's a lawyer! And thank you to my friend Melissa for letting me borrow her photo from her site; not sure if you can enlarge this one.
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YANKEE IN NICE
Edit: pastis is a licorice-flavored alcoholic drinksimilar to Greek ouzo. My favorite drink as it is for many people in this area. No more ...
5 comments:
Bibi, thanks first for your dedication of this post.
I've seen similar signs near Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone NP. Common sense, where it concerns the common man (or woman) is anything but "common", "universal" ... or "the exercise of prudence". I see people all the time on mountain trials wearing flip-flops, or riding Harley's wearing tank-top, shorts and Birkenstocks. Dumb!! But, we humanoids have that curse of "free will" ... and of course we must exercise it.
All I can say is Caveat emptor. (The buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made.
~Chuck
If you go walking on a glacier in New Zealand there is an equally explicit sign. Something like 'danger of death'. I forget it, exactly. I was in a group with three glacier guides and we had every kind of precaution. But guess what... our tour was held up for some time because someone had ignored the initial sign and gone into the area alone and, sure enough, fallen and broken a leg.
Well, the person should at least be happy he/she didn't die, and "only" broke a leg!
Of course, this sort of thing has reached ridiculous proportions in the United States. American law doesn't necessarily expect people to use common sense (and this applies to our government, as well). However, the opposite can be true. Some American states don't have motorcycle helmet laws, notably Illinois and California, and almost no one there uses them. The highways do not have signs reading "Caution: if you are dumb enough to ride a motorcycle at 60 mph / 100 kph without a helment, be sure your organ donor card is signed."
- Strangetastes
Attorney at Law
Are those antiquities showing in your photo? Like, walls in danger of collapse, is that the idea behind the sign? The English version does sound sinister.
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