The problem with sleeping most of the day and being zombie brained the rest of it is it makes it very difficult to think what to blog about. Luckily Sammie sent messages when I was asleep that gave me an idea.
Sammie shared the public road safety videos that she remembers from school. They’re quite different from the ones Johan and I remember, being creepy and deliberately scary. I think they were inspired by Coraline. The videos she shared are below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN9d4rzTRjQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0c75VKvcsY
The main road safety videos Johan could remember were the hedgehogs. I saw them on telly but unfortunately am too old to have seen them in school. The song is awesome.
I instead got the Green Cross Code Man. The actor is David Prowse, who played Darth Vader in Star Wars. After a few of these videos, they even let him use his own voice! I remember this one with his robot.
I didn’t realise until today that he made a new one, aimed at young adults!
What I remember most though were the fire safety videos, starring Francis the Firefly. I’m still scared of matches, partially due to these videos. The short version I remember from school, the long version I think I watched on telly. I read the book as well in junior school.
These days I think they were too harsh on Cocky Roach, especially in comparison to the punishment Francis got (or didn’t). If he’d been given good guidance and help, he might have become a productive citizen, especially as he was just a kid. They never did say what his motivation or goal was, and I’d be surprised if he actually wanted to burn the town down. He most likely just wanted to scare Francis.
I also remember watching lots of rail safety videos, as my first junior school wasn’t far from the high speed lines towards Liverpool Lime Street. I can’t seem to find any of those on YouTube though unfortunately.
I enjoyed those assemblies, and I can still remember the Green Cross Code (Stop, Look, Listen, Think), not that it helps when you forget what a road is. Any assembly where the school telly was brought in was always a good one. I suspect that if I’d seen the ones Sammie saw though I’d have ended up with nightmares. Bring back the hedgehogs!