What The Hell Happened...
...At Tap 'n' Tin earlier tonight?
We were up on the top floor, merrily dancing away, when I look down and notice what looks like dry ice moving across the floor at our feet. I point it out to Hayley and Liz and we assume they've had new dry ice/smoke machines fitted.
The next thing we know, there's an alarm going off, people screaming and shouting "tear gas", couldn't see my hand in front of my face for smoke, no-one can breathe, and there's the most foul smell choking everyone. We all make for the doors, people are streaming down the stairs into the middle floor in coughing fits, smoke billowing down the stairs with them...
Bouncers and security staff close off the top floor and usher anyone who's still coughing outside, where they'd stopped letting people in. Initially they said it was due to a tear gas release, but then (presumably to stop the spread of just this sort of gossip) they just called it an unknown gas release. We made our way outside, Hayley and Liz decided to go back for Liz's brother then get a taxi, I had to go home as I was feeling really sick and still coughing pretty badly.
One suggestion made is that someone either let off or damaged a powder fire extinguisher, which when combined with the ventilation system could create the clouds of gas. However, a quick Google tells me all powder fire extinguishers are odourless, and that place definitely stank. It also wouldn't make sense how it spread over the whole floor, looking like dry ice, then rose up causing the choking (surely the powder would sink to the floor, after all fire extinguishers are pretty directional if released properly, and if it exploded surely there would have been a cloud in one corner which then spread outwards?
Other ideas? Maybe it was a riot gas/smoke grenade of some sort? No-one was crying (directly due to the gas anyway), which rules out tear gas.
It does concern me a little that the place appeared to be staying open, and there was no sign of Police, Fire & Rescue or Paramedic response. Again, googling the "best case" scenario of a powder fire extinguisher release, H&S guidelines still say anyone who inhaled or got the powder in their eyes should seek medical advice immediately.
Can someone more "in the know" fill me in?
So much for a blaze-of-glory-last-night-at-tap-and-tin-before-uni!
AAAAH Stupid Car
So I just got Cautioned by the Police, full on "you do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence.... blah blah blah".
And why?
Because I had a tail light out!
If I'm going to have a criminal record, can't it be for something slightly more exciting than that?!?
Now I have to fill in a form to prove it gets fixed or I can be prosecuted.
Stupid Paul. Stupid Car.
Think About It
The recent series of "Think" Road Safety adverts have really been bugging me; they provide all kinds of shocking statistics which make you think. Unfortunately, after thinking about them for a little while, I find myself reaching completely different conclusions to those they are trying to evoke the watcher to reach.
Many of the following statements are a case of “Well Duh”. You have to wonder how many thousands of pounds are spent researching these pearls of wisdom.
“The greatest risk of falling asleep at the wheel is between midnight and 6am”
Fancy that, people falling asleep at night.
“Over one third of all road traffic accidents, about 1,000 deaths a year, involve someone who is at work at the time”
So what are we saying? About a third of traffic is commercial? Sounds about right when you take into account sales teams, taxis, lorries, delivery services, couriers, emergency services, to name but a few.
“Over half of all driving fatalities occur on rural roads”
They take this to mean rural roads are more dangerous… in fact this makes them virtually equally dangerous… and doesn’t take into account the number of miles of rural road we have compared to other road types!
“6% of all road casualties and 18% of deaths in 2004 occurred when someone was
Only 6%?
“More than twice as many boys as girls are killed or seriously injured in pedestrian and cycle accidents”
Without wanting to sound sexist, you see far more boys out riding their bikes, playing football on the pavement, etc, than you do girls.
“More than two thirds of all accidents in which people are killed or seriously injured happen on roads where the speed limit is 40mph or less”
So are maybe 2/3rds of our roads have a speed limit of less than 40mph, or maybe faster roads are safer – I’m sure that’s not something they want promoted!
“68% of all crashes involving a two-wheeled motor vehicle also involved a car.”
Well, given a fairly similar percentage of all traffic is cars, that’s hardly surprising.
“You are not as safe as you thought - in 2004 car users made up 52% of all road traffic fatalities in
So, given more than 52% of traffic is cars, that does make us safer…
“You are more likely to kill a pedestrian driving at 40mph than 30mph.”
So says common sense.
“Just over half (50%) of drivers break the 30mph speed limit.”
So, if more than half of drivers speed, perhaps the speed limit needs reviewing – rather than suggesting most drivers are dangerous . Incidentally, why does it say just over half, then state 50%? If its 50%, that is half. I can't imagine they're explaining to the reader that half=50%.
[Reference http://www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/ ]