Fairytales vs Platform Games

Rowan was reminded of ice daggers, the sort plunged through the hearts of unfortunate, and probably unsuspecting, victims in fairytales; shortly before some wholesome, heart-warming hero arrives on the scene to heal the hurts and ensure everyone – except, perhaps, the ice-wielding bad guy – lives happily ever after.

I had images of old-school platform games, or perhaps even a Nintendo original hand-held classic like Donkey Kong. The aim was to complete a successful dash through the Tunnel of Doom, while dodging the game-over inducing objects regularly falling from the ceiling.

Earlier this week we were telling friends in Mostar that our walk to work – or the supermarket – was a relatively easy one in all weathers as half of it was through the road tunnel under Jajce's castle. As if to prove that nothing in life is really that simple the weather threw us a curve ball this morning. This is not photoshop, a fairytale or Nintendo's finest; those really are icicles over three feet long, or measuring over a metre if you prefer metric.

However, fear not; in a country that often appears to have a laissez-faire attitude to all things health and safety these actually register as dangerous enough to require attention. As I was walking through the tunnel, photographing all the while, I spotted the guy with the very long stick working his way towards me on the other side of the road, smashing the seasonal hazards above his path. I was pleased to see that despite clearly forgetting to don his protective goggles he had remembered his wooly (safety?) hat!