Safety First

We were walking up Church St beside the Western Infirmary when he said he was tired and sat down on the frozen flagstones next to his scooter. My eye was drawn to the wall on the other side and I told him to wait while I went over with my camera.

Next thing I know he is standing next to me, proud that he had successfully spotted a gap in the traffic, and before I know it I'm gesticulating wildly in a mixture of guilt, anger and relief, hardly able to spell out - yet again - that he is still not old enough to cross the road on his own.

Later that afternoon, I watched a bicycling father lead his two children dangerously across the mouth of a junction and then berate them for following him as a car was forced to brake suddenly to avoid them.