While I was away...

...a couple of entries caught my eye for our "You couldn't make it up" collection. The first concerns wheelie bins which, as I've previously mentioned, is fast becoming a heading in its own right. Some council somewhere have decreed that bins will not be emptied if they are placed more than one metre from the kerb. Of course, as most pavements are well over a metre wide, this means that to get your bin emptied you need to put it where it will obstruct the pavement - which is itself an offence! Clever, no? The other is just as stupid, but far more serious. A young girl got into difficulties swimming in the sea off the coast in Devon. A lifeboat was dispatched from some distance away, but would take 10 minutes or more to reach her, by which time she would probably have drowned. There was in fact a lifeboat right on the spot, but its crew had been told not to use it as it had not been checked as safe to take out. They decided to ignore their instructions, and went out and rescued the girl. They now face possible disciplinary proceedings. It really is a mad mad mad mad world!