Serbian justice, rain and my brave little soldier

It's good to see that Ratko Mladic has finally been caught and will soon be brought to justice. The deaths this man is responsible for is incalculable and it's difficult to know what sort of punishment would be suitable. This person committed mass genocide and comparison can definitely be made with the atrocities of the Second World War. I recall the period well and the feeling of utter helplessness as day after day we were served the horrific images of senseless violence and death on our TV screens. This was happening on our doorstep, in Serbia, in Europe and it can be argued that we along with the rest of Europe and the US did very little to stop it. I believe it is a period in our recent history that we should be ashamed of but as to what is done with the perpetrators, I cannot say. It will have to be left up to the Hague though I doubt very much whether anything they do will even begin to placate those who lost sons, brothers, mothers and sisters back in 1995.

I see we have rain, and lots of it. It's actually quite welcome and for the first time in ages, the car looks quite clean. I've just returned from collecting my son from playschool and a visit to the local health center. He needed his pre-school boosters and I really wasn't looking forward to it at all knowing he was going to have two injections. I actually felt more nervous than he did. When it came to it, he actually coped with it a lot better than I thought he would. I was expecting tears but he didn't shed one, instead he just said 'ouch' as each needle entered his arm. The nurse was impressed too and gave him two stickers for being brave. As a treat for being a little soldier, we bought him a McDonald's for his dinner.

This evening, my wife and I are off to see our son's new school. He starts there properly in September. The school as I've mentioned previously is practically next door so we don't have to go far at all. It'll feel quite odd visiting a school as a parent. I recall my parents coming to see my new school many years ago, looking at displays of projects, chemistry experiments and physical education. It didn't mean much to me back then - it just all looked a bit scary and I know I didn't look forward to it at all. The opposite is true of my son - he's quite excited and looking forward to going to 'big school'. What will certainly help is the fact it's a fairly small school with less than fifty children. I hope to find out a lot more later this evening. I'll be interested in the teaching techniques that are used - not just a chalkboard or text books as it was in my day - but computers and interactive tools. Above all, I would wish for my son to feel comfortable and at ease with his new environment but I should get a feel for that later on.

The weather we're having at the moment is quite lively. I like the weather to 'do something'. I can't stand all that boring grey stuff we're so famous for. We certainly need the rain but I wouldn't have thought a few heavy showers will make much of a difference to water levels in our reservoirs.  I did find out earlier that the model railway cabin I spend much of my time in has a leak. It's always leaked down the walls due to the roof not fitting the walls properly but this time rainwater was dripping from the ceiling directly above the small village I have been creating. I don't think it will be a simple job to fix. The whole roof really needs sealing properly.
Today I started work on terraforming a small hillock which will eventually hold the other end of a viaduct I'm adding to take a line above the village I'm building below. It's quite an ambitious plan though I'm quite confident of success. I'll try to take some photos tomorrow or Saturday and upload them.

Again, I felt I had little to write about and manage to produce a small novel. I hope it hasn't been too boring but I do like to record a little of what I get up to day to day.

Oh, must mention soon about my brother-in-law. He's in hospital with appendicitis, poor chap.

Getting away with it

We live in a country where 'getting away with it' is now the norm. I refer to the Potters Bar Rail Inquiry and the news that after 9 years, Network Rail are given a token slap on the wrist for the negligence that caused a commuter train to leave the tracks and plow into a station killing 7 people. It appears that instead of going after the people responsible at the time of the disaster, our wonderful legal system has instead held the current rail maintenance company to account. As they have limited liability, they get a token fine - which incidentally - we are paying for. Now, is it me or does this sound totally ridiculous.
I am totally sympathetic to the views and comments of those who lost loved ones at the hands of Railtrack and I hope you keep up your fight to find justice. Like you, I am disgusted with this country's legal system and its trend for letting people walking away from crime Scot-free.

Justice

I've decided that there is no justice here in the UK. I suppose I decided that a while back when I began fighting to get my money back from a firm I'd bought a course from. As I mentioned previously, and to cut a long story short, they didn't provide the course and to date, haven't returned my money - a not so small £1,140  This was March 2010, so a year ago.
After countless unanswered letters, I decided to go to a solicitor. This was the mistake, thinking that a solicitor's letter would provoke a response from them. Wrong! So another was sent. Still no response. It s then recommended I take it to a small claims court. So taking the advice of my solicitor, that's what I did. By this time, I had received an invoice for £600. Thinking I would get this back, I paid it. The judge ruled in my favor after the firm failed to respond to any of the court's requests and they have ordered them to pay me back my money plus a measly £180 in costs... Shortly after this, I received another invoice for £400 from my solicitor.
So, I've actually got nowhere. I called the court and it turns out there is no guarantee the firm will follow the order of the court and that if I want to pursue it, I have to pay out more money for a 'Warrant of Execution'. Even then, there is no guarantee... It turns out the court have absolutely no power to force them to pay up. So where the hell is the justice in that???!!!
That's where I am, increasingly frustrated that I've got absolutely nowhere in 12 months. I cannot complete my training and therefore cannot pursue my new career, my 'plan'.
Arrrrggghhh!