Do we just make things worse when we try to make them better?

On the topic of carbon offset, would someone mind telling me why it’s legal to sell leaf-blowers, which use enormous amounts of petrol, polluting the atmosphere for several square kilometres, to disarrange fallen foliage which cries out for a sweeping brush, a rake and a bag?

Like everybody else this weekend, I bought a lottery ticket because the Lottery’s chirrupy PR woman kept popping up on radio programmes to convince me that even if I didn’t win, I’d feel great because I’d be supporting good causes. I filled in two whole sheets of numbers. My birthday figured, as did the birthday of the man in my life. I’d have gone for my son’s birthday too, if I could remember it. I know I was there at the time, and I think it was the last day in January, but I’m never sure of the year and I thought it wouldn’t be good for his self-esteem to be telephoned – by his mother — asking when he was born, just for a lottery ticket. So I used his telephone number instead.

The cashier in the shop fed my two sheets into her machine and asked me for €260. I nearly passed out. I’d figured that two sheets might be a bit expensive, but not THAT expensive. It turned out that I had ticked every available box, including one that committed me to a twice-weekly entry for several months. Rescuing me took three staff members and seriously ticked off the queue of would-be winners behind me (and this was at seven-thirty in the morning).