Disasters Come in All Shapes and Sizes…as do the Bruises That Accompany Them!

As the title suggests all has not been exactly smooth at The Squat, which I would like to point out is actually looking less like a squat on a daily basis. We are onto the final leg of a renovation that feels like it has lasted a lifetime.

So, the fact that the house is coming along, just one very large build to go, I decided to sort out the accumulated crap that has built up simply because there has been nowhere else to put it. I set up boxes:

• charity
• rubbish
• give to people we know
• put away (when the bedrooms have also been decrapped and there is room to do so)

Working methodically off I went sorting, dumping and rehoming whatever we no longer needed or hadn’t used for a year or more.

What I didn’t account for was simply how much ‘stuff’ we have accumulated. Undeterred I soldiered on, not really taking much notice of a pile of books that toppled over. Amongst the books was a folder that was packed full of those little plastic sleeves that you put paperwork in. transparent so that you can see the contents they blend beautifully with whatever surface they are on…like a rug.

They are also extremely slippery.

Yup, you got it.

So, lying on the floor one leg under me and a rapidly swelling wrist I contemplated my next move after I’d stopped cursing and hollering that is. Our house has long room, I was right at the back and the phone was two rooms away. My mobile was buried somewhere in the piles of debris. My iPad was a few feet away….

I did a quick assessment, my leg wasn’t broken, but I was unable to get up, a combination of arthritis and the awkward position I was in. My wrist could be busted as it was a very odd shape and throbbing like a blind cobbler’s thumb.

What to do?

I looked at the pile of flimsy plastic wallets that had fanned out where I had stepped on them and decided that that as they were all I had to hand they would have to be used as a ‘rescue me’ item. I slid a couple under my leg, which was going numb with me sitting on it, and tentatively shuffled sidewards. The wallets slid on the rug and my leg moved with them.

Result.

Legs out in front of me, and after a few minutes to allow the circulation to return I ‘bum shuffled’ towards the table to pull myself up. This was a failure as I had moved the chairs out of the way and the table top was too high.

I pulled down the iPad and saw who was online…an American friend. Mmm. I sent half a dozen text messages to local friends and family describing my predicament and waited a few minutes. No replies came. I was about to Skype my American friend and explain that I needed help could she contact the police in the UK but I decided to have another go at getting up first. I shuffled on eventually arriving at a chair and at last got to my feet. It had taken me longer than an hour.

With the back door open the house had cooled, I was cold and I was hurting from head to foot. I wiggled my fingers slowly…I really didn’t think it my wrist was broken, just badly twisted.

I had been upright about half an hour when a friend had checked his phone, seen the message and decided to pay a visit instead of messing around answering my text.

I ended up having an x-ray on my wrist, not broken, but I have it strapped up. It will be a while before it’s comfortable. Typing is a bit rough, it has taken three days to put this together.

Something as simple as this shows how quickly a normal situation can degenerate. I brought home to me how vulnerable we all are to mishaps. Okay, as disasters go this was way down on the most minor list, but it made me think that I have to be more careful when I am alone in the house.

Had it been my head that took the impact not my wrist things could have been very different. I wasn’t due to collect shortie from her sleepover until 10am the next day. Stuart had made his last call of the night due to the time difference and anyone else calling me would have assumed I was out.

Accidents will always happen, it’s just the way it is, but I could have prevented this one by picking up the dropped folder. Makes you think doesn’t it?

Take Care

Liz

This information has been made available by Ready Nutrition