Infinity, Plus One.

Did you ever play that game at school with some smart arse who proclaimed that no matter what number you could think of he could think of one higher?

Naturally the biggest figure you could think of was 'infinity' but the focker could even beat that; he would retort 'plus one' and walk away before you or anyone noticed the stiffie that was forming in his corduroys with all the excitement of being 'right'.

Incidentally everyone's Mum made them wear cords back in the day because they were so hardy. Naff, but hardy. And if you tried to get out of wearing them by ripping a hole in the knee or crutch Mum just patched the bastards up, with some colour other than that of the cords. Now you were still wearing naff cords with naff knee patches. Mum fights back.

It was a futile argument then to try and convince the jammy prick that his premise was fundamentally flawed, the same way it is today with people who whole heartily believe in psychics, ghosts, conspiracy theories and even religion. And nothing brings out the crackpots quite like a missing toddler but I've whacked on about this kind of thing before and you and I are probably both sick of hearing me say it, which makes this blog all the more sweeter.

That was written of course before the terrible news came to light of just what exactly happened to wee Aisling but that hasn't stopped one such seer of dead people claiming that her vision that Aisling was 'in a hole or ditch' was spot on.

Only a drain, or specifically an underground drain pipe, is neither technically a hole or a ditch and although one needs to be dug before the pipe can be laid you would be hard pressed to argue otherwise. But then that's the psychics chief weapon; extreme vagueness. That and they can count higher than you. Infinity? Plus one.

After the grim news broke a large section of NZ started on one of their favourite pastimes - playing the blame game. And no one is immune from it; if only the mother hadn't turned her back on the child, if only the Police had of checked the drain better or if only the council had of fixed the drain weeks ago.

It's all bullshit and irrelevant now. Even with the benefit of hindsight this tragedy has to be seen for what it is, a terrible moment in time that happened by cruel chance. Will something similar happen to some other poor child elsewhere in the future? Sadly yes.

Busy, tired Mums will take their eyes of their toddlers, frantic Police will make split second decisions in times of great duress like when searching for a lost child and councils will spend their days ticketing cars parked partially on the footpaths of tight, narrow cul-de-sacs like mine then fixing faulty drain covers.

And some smart arse will try and convince you that he / she can count higher than you, or pretend to have images of a body in a vague location that kind of matches the usual description of where a body is found.

Plus one? Fuck off, you vultures.