Now it is my turn.
This morning I needed to purchase something (light) so I decided to walk up the town. For various health reasons this walk is not always possible or indeed a good idea. In these parts we say ‘Up the town’ when in fact it is a mile downhill to the centre of our so called shopping area from where I live. The mile uphill on the return journey is rather taxing for me nowadays. I managed my outward journey quite well, but walking along the main street I was almost pushed under a bus! It was only a single-decker so maybe if it had hit me the damage may not have been so bad!!!
So how did it happen? There were shoppers about and I was aware of a young lady approaching with a baby in a pushchair. Being polite, and one of the old school, l I moved to the outside of the pavement to give her room. She paid no attention to me and barged on past. From the side of the pushchair (closest to me), 2 enormous packets of disposable nappies were protruding. The packages hit me as she passed with enough force to knock me off balance. I ended up in the road. She must have noticed or felt the bump!
As I struggled up the hill with more aches & pains than I had on the way down I pondered on the subject of ‘Babies’ & their transport. My gripe is the fact that a) she paid no heed to other pedestrians and b) that the pushchair/buggy/ stroller or whatever you want to call it was the size of an SUV! Maybe if I had to push a tank like that about I would become aggressive.
This evening I browsed the web and was horrified to discover that one of these gigantic pushchairs might cost £300-£400. The weight of a pushchair is approximately 13kg, that’s without the baby! The assembled size is about L130 x W58 x H106cm.
I then read several reviews about these means of transport and the consensus was that they were very heavy when folded and quite cumbersome when trying to lift into the boot of a car or onto a bus. You also need a fairly large area to store them as they takes up a fair amount of room! The sunshade was useless as it didn't shade the baby from the sun at all. Finally whilst it is lovely having pneumatic tyres, it is very frustrating when you got a puncture. One lady reported having had three!
7 comments:
That's awful! We'll be pushing one of those things about shortly but thankfully we got a (slightly) smaller one.
The girl in Smyths was very nice, showing us a fancy model with all sorts of bells and whistles but when I pointed out to Jacinta that the large wheels on it might be hard to manouvre, and that it was quite bulky and heavy we looked at alternatives.
I would consider it an advantage to have a smaller, lighter buggy, and thought they'd charge a premium but no, they're cheaper! We got a Graco buggy thing and car seat for around €139 while the other one was almost €400!
'tis a crazy old world we live in..
Donncha
Morning Donncha
I was very much aware of you and Jacinta when I was writing and hoping not to offend.
The 'object' of my complaint, according to the web, had more attachments than an overdecorated Christmas tree! You would need a science degree to sort out how to use them.
I wondered if in fact it would end up like a washing machine with about 20 programmes, when in fact most people use only about three.
My Elly was like a slippery eel, constantly on the move - so nothing has changed then. ;) I pictured trying to bold her and keep an eye on any of the attachments that needed to be removed while folding an enormous pushchair with only one hand.
Fingers crossed for you both and awaiting the good news.
It's not so much the buggies that annoy me.. it's their drivers!! The arrogance of some mothers would be akin to taxi drivers in Dublin city- YOU make room for THEM or else! Especially worrying are the mothers that use their buggies to stop traffic when wanting to cross the road.. this is crazy and dangerous but I've seen them do it more times than I've had hot dinners.
Yes, K8 it is the lack of thought of the 'mother drivers'! But why is it necessary to have such LARGE buggies. At one point yesterday where the path allowed, two women walked side by side along the street, one had a double buggy and the other had a single one. It meant that anyone needing to pass had to step out into the road.
I'll stick with the first point you made. You said that you moved over for a lassie with a pushchair. That's common decency and anyone with half a brain should do it. In this case, you were taken advantage off and you should have shouldered her as you were walking away.
I hold doors open. This lassie turned her nose up at me without saying thanks. Fortunately I was still holding it open and she was only half-way through. I slammed it back on her.
The only way to fight ignorance is with ignorance.
Dario it is hard to shoulder someone when you are trying to stop falling under a bus.
Because of the day that's in it, today's photo on my photoblog is one of a mother pushing her offspring in a buggy. I don't think it's one of the big ones but I dread trying to navigate narrow walkways with any sort of contraption.
Thankfully the new Patrick Street in Cork has wide pavements on one side of the street. Plenty of room for all!
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