Work experience.

In the UK when children get to 15 they take a week out of school and go to work.

This is to introduce them to the idea that when you finish school you don't simply sign on the dole but go and get a job.

So anyway the natural place for Sir Bruce aka Branwen is the library, she can spend a week surrounded by books.

Taliesin meanwhile is going to a local garage.

Tallie has been around cars. trucks, motor bikes and land rovers all of his life. When he was four he helped me build a body for the truck we had at the time.

Put another way he is pretty competent.

So enter stage left one the Health and Safety Assesor. Who calls in at Brian the garage and does his assesment.

Air tools are too dangerous for him to be around.

He could not possibly be under the ramp.

Oil? Oh dear can't possibly risk him coming into contact with that.

This is standard knee jerk risk elimination stuff.

Brian is very old school and asked very politely where it would be OK to put the seat?

The seat?

Yes, it had become clear to Brian that all Tallie would be allowed to do for the week is watch other people working, in fact he might as well not bother going and stay home.

Brian "failed" the health and safety assessment and Tallie cannot go.

So management and I are writing a letter absolving the agencies of liability all so that he can actually learn something.

This knee jerk risk averse society of ours is putting children at risk by denying them the chance to learn to manage it.

I await next year with trepidation, one of the looked after kids will be on work experience then.

I wonder what it will be deemed safe for him to do?

Stay in bed for a week?

R