» Fairgrounds, theme parks, circuses and carnivals

Mentally Scarred by Legoland
When my brother and I were youngsters, my parents decided to take us on a family holiday to Denmark. As if 19 hours in storm force 9 crossing the North Sea by ferry wasn't enough (mom doesn't like flying), the holiday was nearly blighted by a family tragedy whilst visiting Legoland.

My brother at the time being around 10 years old, had a go at driving an oversized Duplo vehicle around a mocked up town with other children doing the same. They were out of "cars" so he had to make do with a Duplo tow-truck type thingy. Running through the middle of this giant Lego town was the Lego train track, which carries jolly visitors all around the park.

Well, my brother gets to the part with the train track, just as a train is approaching. Like a real level crossing, lights flashed and the barriers started to lower themselves. My brother, being the cautious fellow he is, duly applied the brakes.

Unfortunately, the eight year old girl behind him decided not to stop. Whether through malice or a serious case of away-with-the-fairies, she rammed the back of his truck, which careered straight forwards. The barrier lowered, landing on my brother's lap. He was trapped with the train steadily approaching.

You should have seen the look of horror on his little face, and the expressions of the train passengers as they juddered past him, barely two inches from the poor little blighter, just missing him. I can still hear my mother's scream of horror to this day, slowed down somewhat in the style of a bad overdramatic action movie.

My dad put all of our Lego in the loft when we got back home.
(Mon 13th Jun 2011, 23:12, More)

» Terrified!

I was followed
When I was 12 I was playing in the woods near to a camp site where my family had taken me on holiday. I was climbing on a fallen tree near a lake when some middle aged bloke came over and tried striking up a conversation. I ignored him remembering the "don't talk to strangers" advice from my mom, and he buggered off. At this point I was a bit scared so decided to follow the path back to the campsite. Then the bloke appeared walking behind me. I walked more quickly, so did he. I began to run, and I heard him running behind. At this point I was utterly terrified. I was alone and it was a remote location. The path turned a corner and thank god, there was a fork in it with a big patch of ferns and brambles in the middle. I dived into this and lay low. I'll never forget how I held my breath trying to be still and quiet as my heart was pounding and I just wanted to take a big gasp of air from the run. The bloke got to the fork and stood there, looking left and right and after a minute he went right, at a run. Once I could no longer hear him I waited another few minutes so I was sure he was gone, then ran all the way back to camp through the woods, not the path. I dread to think what would have happened to me had I not hid. Silly girl that I was, I was worried about ruining the holiday and never had the courage to tell my mom about it until I was 16. For 4 years it scared me, and I had nightmares about being chased. And that folks, is the most terrified I have ever been.
(Thu 5th Apr 2012, 14:41, More)

» Training courses, seminars and conferences

Every 2 years we have to attend a "Safe Manual Handling" course
It's a morning of boring PowerPoint slides, followed by an afternoon on the car park taking it in turns to take a small box out of the back of a van, then put it back in again. All this whilst having a trainer with the charisma and lively voice of Trigger repeating his mantra of "lift with the knees". No lunch provided, it usually rains, and you can't skive as it's at the workplace and the gaffer can look out of the window to make sure everybody is having "fun". God, I hate this course. :(
(Thu 15th Mar 2012, 18:31, More)