Re: Photography and the Law

On Thu, 8 May 2008 22:26:02 +0100, Les Invalides <Les@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:

>Cynic <cynic_999@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> posted
>>
>>When faced with making a decision, most people will make a decision
>>that they believe is least likely to result in negative consequences
>>for themselves.  Prohibiting an activity is usually less likely to
>>rebound than saying "yes".
>
>I remember many years ago, during a warm spell like this one, suggesting 
>to my wife that we get one of those portable disposable tinfoil 
>barbecues and take it down to the park for a picnic with the kids. She 
>said, "I think you'd better find out first if it's allowed." So I rang 
>the council's Parks & Recs  department and asked. There was an audible 
>gasp at the other end: "Barbecue? Park? Children? My God! Absolutely 
>not! Can't possibly be permitted! Don't you realise what could happen?".
>
>So we took sandwiches instead. A week or two later we were down at the 
>park again, and I happened to see a family with a disposable barbecue 
>doing just what I had wanted to do, and having a great time. Just for 
>fun I rang the council and said I had seen some people having a barbecue 
>in the park and whether anything should be done about it. The reply, of 
>course, was: "Barbecue? Park? Children? Sorry sir. Nothing we can do 
>about it. None of our business."

I really don't know why the average Englishman feels that they have to
find someone to ask permission to carry out any activity that they
believe might be in the slightest unusual.

Not that it's only people in the UK.  An American yachtsman I once met
spent an entire day on a small uninhabited island trying to find
someone to show his passport to.  He finally persuaded a bewildered
visiting fisherman to give him permission to stay the night.

-- 
Cynic