Two news items cropped up today which have amazed me.
Firstly, a woman in England (the Midlands, I think) was on a bus with a very young baby. The baby started yelling for food so she proceeded to breast feed it. Another passenger complained to the driver, saying the mother was being obscene. The driver then called the woman to the front of the bus and told her to get off. Which she did, having been told she was being obscene. It was pouring with rain and she had a baby and, I presume, a stroller. She managed to get a taxi home.
The bus company, as soon as it heard of this, contacted her and apologised, sent her a bunch of flowers and some ‘vouchers’ and said they would investigate. All well and good but what I want to know is who the hell would seriously think breast feeding a baby is obscene? I mean really. It’s one of the most natural things in the world. I think the driver should have turfed the person who complained off the bus.
Then again, I did see a new sign in one of our local buses recently that reads “For the comfort of all our passengers, please do not eat or drink on the bus”. Clearly the baby would have contravened this rule and maybe been asked to stop.
Secondly, the Canadian ice hockey team was told off for celebrating their recent Olympic victory. After the spectators had left the rink (note the use of the word ‘after’) they returned, drinking beer and smoking cigars, whooping it up with the cleaning staff. Clearly someone complained and they had to get all contrite and apologise. One of the players actually had the affront to lay down on the ice!
Fortunately, the IOC and the Canadian body responsible for the sport saw fit NOT to punish anyone for celebrating the fact that they had won a gold medal and have put it all down to a natural exuberance. The players have apologised, saying they realised their celebration had strayed from the dressing room and, perhaps, shouldn’t have. Very sad, if you ask me, that people have to apologise for celebrating an Olympic win.
So who are these people complaining about such stupid things? And, more importantly, how sad are their lives that they have to? I’d throw them off the bus, especially if it was raining, for being obscene and not cheerful enough.
And, thank you mum, I fixed the photo.
