Tragedy At The Show

Friday 12th September, 2014

This morning we went off to the Hospital for Tony to have his follow up visit with the Doctor.  His hand is coming along nicely and so they took off the huge bandage (much to his relief) and now he just has a small bandage over the wound. 

They sent him to Physiotherapy where they made a small splint for him to wear mainly at night so that he doesn't make his hand into a fist when he sleeps.  He has to go to his own doctor Monday week to get the stitches out.

After we were finished at the Hospital we went for a wander up the Mall.  They still haven't completed the paving of it yet, but that what has been done doesn't look very inspiring.  When Tony was working I didn't mind going for a walk in the Mall, but today I couldn't wait to leave.   As far as I am concerned it has lost some of its magic.

Last Friday was the start of the Royal Adelaide Show but this year we didn't have to take Katie as she went with her friend Maddi.  Tony and I thought that we might go ourselves but with him having his hand operated on we decided against it.

Today there was some tragic news.  An eight year old girl died after being flung off one of the amusement rides.  She was on the Airmax 360.  So far the authorities do not know who is at fault and investigations into the tragedy are continuing.

I have yet to ask Katie if she and Maddi went on this ride.  She used to get annoyed with me at times because there were rides at the Show that I wouldn't let her go on.  I just felt that they were not suitable for her or her age at the time but as this tragedy has shown, you may meet the height criteria but a lot of other factors come into play as well.  

Preliminary investigations are showing that perhaps the safety belts that are supposed to hold you in place may not have been adequate for this little girl.  Even though Safety Inspectors inspect all the rides before and even while the Show is on there are no guarantees for one's own safety. 

My heart goes out to all involved and this being the 175th anniversary of the show they added an extra day.  The Show was going to be open on the second Sunday making it a total of 10 days instead of the usual nine.  The officials have said that this will continue to be the case but this particular ride will be closed.