The Ultimate

It's only June and even before Summer officially started we had been having some of the highest temperatures that we have ever seen so early in the year here in Spain. I shudder to think what July and August will be like. The entire country has been on red alert against fires but fortunately the rains have started and will shortly cover the entire peninsula, thereby reducing the chance of out of control forest fires like the one that has caused so many deaths in Portugal.

Ramadan has just ended. I have not heard any stories such as those that occurred last year where so many people died because they were strict adherents, refusing to take even water during super hot days. In the general community the elderly and the fragile will have to use supreme common sense and caution to avoid sun poisoning, another killer. Extremes of weather are to be guarded against, even in the young group where our youth think they are indestructible. They go out in the noonday sun on the beach and lay out and go to sleep unprotected. Not a smart idea.

When it's hot we really don't need anyone to tell us that it's hot, although we do that with everyone we meet. It makes us uncomfortable if we're standing in the full sun, so we move into the shade. If the air-conditioning is working in our cars we drive with it on full bore. When we stop and shut the engine down, if we are parked out in the open we know how quickly the car heats up. We can't wait to get out and move away.

So, here's my question: if the driver closes up the car with a child or an animal inside, saying daddy or mommy will be right back, how stupid must you be to think that is a reasonable thing to do. The thing that is so worrying is that it is happening in more than one country around the world. Children and animals have died, and others have had to be rescued and put through emergency procedures to save their lives, and the people who do these things always ask of their child or their puppy who has been rescued, when can I have it back? What?

Talk about being terminally stupid! Duh!

The first step in punishing anyone guilty of such behaviour is to take away their licence to drive a car. The public don't need anyone with such an empty head coming towards us. Such a person would be a hazard to society.

To those of us who know this is not the reasonable thing to do we must be aware that in every car we pass as we walk along the sidewalk there may be a child/animal locked inside. It will be an oven and only your awareness and quick action can save the child or animal from someone who is as deadly as a terrorist with a bomb or a knife.

By all means I hope you enjoy your Summer, but please stay vigilant. I would also add a note to remind anyone who might lock their child or animal in their car to please don't do that, but who am I kidding, such people are not capable of being able to read and comprehend.

Copyright (c) 2017

Eugene Carmichael