This time of year is a great religious festival for many of the World's religions and creeds of different beliefs and backgrounds.While you are out celebrating with family and friends please make sure that you aren't responsible for ruining a family's Christmas,Hanukkah etc. and all that follow as a result of drinking and driving.Please don't drive after having even a couple of drinks,the costs are way more important than monetary loss-life and limb can be destroyed.If someone you know has been drinking,don't let them drive-even if it means physically restraining them.Last year one of my daughter's best friends was doing the right thing and was walking home with his girlfriend after having a few drinks at a Christmas party,a drunk driver mowed them down and left them lying in a huge pool of blood in the middle of the road.They were there for almost an hour and several cars just drove by them before someone stopped.He died just a couple of days before Christmas and she is badly maimed for life.All because of his stupidity and thoughtlessness Christmas will be a sad event for a lot of people for years to come.BTW the driver had to spend just a few weeks in jail because he was given double time for the months he had already been detained plus he automatically had to serve just 1/3 of his remaining sentence.He basically got away with murder.The feeling around the community is that if he returns he too will meet up with an "accident" and he too will have no witnesses to his "accident".
Anyway I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and I hope all those celebrating other religious festivals have a very happy and safe Holy season.


BTW: Death from drunk driving is not an "accident" an accident is the product of happenstance and is completely random,drunk driving is a purposeful decision that a person makes on their own and therefore can't be classed as happenstance-it is,as far as I'm concerned homocide or at the very least manslaughter.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

+1

And this goes just as much for the other 364 days of the year.

Took the dog to the beach on Saturday afternoon for a walk & swim. On the way back, the main road to the beach was shut off by the rural volunteer fire brigade & the police, also saw the rescue helicopter waiting for medics in a paddock.

Obviously a fatal car crash, after a long detour we saw specialist fire appliances racing down the road, full lights and sirens squeling to the scene of the accident. I didn't see anything, as it was a long stretch of road closed off.. however I had the sinking feeling that someone's family is not going to have a good Christmas at all. Someone's mother was going to get the news no parent wanted to hear.

It could be anyone, even us. My partner is a police officer and has dealt with these sorts of scenes, something she personally does not like. She also gets upset when kids are involved.

Count my lucky stars I don't know anyone in this situation, and that we cherish the small moments we have with friends & family not just for Christmas, but for every day of the year.

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Hi Guitslinger: regulars here well remember your daughter's friend's tragic accident. Any update you can give us on how his family is doing, and how the girlfriend is?

Anyway. I thoroughly support what you say about not drinking anything and driving, and your view on the culpability of those who do. Be safe, folks.

Cheers - C

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"The Christmas Spirit is... not what you drink."
Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, Living in the Past.

Merry Christmas to all at the Fender Lounge!

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Hi Ceri,his family were incensed to say the least about the very short amount of time that the driver spent in prison-it was al the very most 3 months,they quite rightly felt that their son's death was in vain and the killer just got a token punishment that was just a little worse than being sent to bed without supper.Meanwhile she is still undergoing extensive therapy and will be having even more surgeries in future and she'll always be disabled from being run over by this cretin.To make matters worse he is completely void of any remorse or culpability and has never once apologized for the grief and suffering that he has caused.In fact he is quite the opposite of repentant,he is actually arrogant.One night while he was on bail awaiting trial he went to a club where there were a lot of friends of both of his victims, he swaggered up to the bar with an obvious air of defiance.The bartender refused to serve him and told him to leave if he valued his own life more than he did the lives of others.

People in the community are quite sure that his well being and/or life would be in extreme jeopardy if and when he returns to the community.I imagine though that someone with his collossal amoung of bravado and arrogance will be back to gloat at all costs-at least that's what a lot of people are counting on and hoping for.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.