Saturday 23 February 2008

Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt

Tuesday morning brought one of the thickest frosts I'd seen in a while. Walking to school, the pavements glittered and whilst G enjoyed the fun of skidding and sliding, D clung tightly to my hand, fearful of falling.

Our walk to school is normally an uneventful affair. If it's rained enough, the fields and the park by the river might be flooded. This happens often enough not to be a real novelty. In the spring, there are sometimes ducklings and cygnets on the river; sometimes the barriers on the level crossing get stuck in the down position, causing traffic chaos. On Tuesday, however, there was an unprecedented mini-drama. A bare-footed man of dishevelled appearance: no coat, wild-eyed, blood pouring from one of his arms, leaned over the church wall and mumbled incoherently into a mobile phone. An ambulance stood nearby, together with two disgruntled looking paramedics and a policeman, deftly stepping between the man and any passers-by. At the school, the playground mafia bubbled with excitement. Children installed in their classrooms, a huddle formed by the school gates and speculation was rife...

Anyway, I digress. It was frosty, I dropped G and D at school and, not being a fully paid-up member of the school gate gossip brigade, I went on my way. I planned to go for a long, brisk walk before going home but my bladder, full of morning orange juice and coffee, was beginning to protest. I decided to nip into the health centre to make use of their facilities. Huge mistake! I stepped out of the health centre onto a patch of ice, felt my ankle twist, a sharp pain and I landed in an undignified heap on the ground. The utter humiliation, combined with the fact that it really did hurt (a lot) made me feel like throwing my head back and bawling loudly! I managed to hold back the tears whilst a couple of concerned mums from the school offered their sympathies but as I hobbled away, I gave in and begin to snivel. (I should like to make it clear at this point that I don't normally consider myself a wimp when it comes to pain; I gave birth to my two younger children without so much as a whiff of gas and air.)

A few steps down the road, I realised I was getting nowhere fast and didn't fancy my chances of getting home, let alone going back to pick up G and D from school. I also have to drive to collect J from his school on Tuesdays; he has a guitar lesson and hasn't yet perfected the art of cycling with a guitar and an industrial-sized school bag. I couldn't flex my right foot at all, I had no chance. I was beginning to feel sick and dizzy. I rang Cam and sobbed pathetically down the phone! Cam agreed to pick me up but getting back from Birmingham would take some time. I sat on a wall by the pub and waited. With my tear-streaked face and the fact that I was sitting outside the pub, shivering uncontrollably at 9.15 in the morning, I definitely looked like a desperate case. Almost as bad as the man by the church. I don't think I was spotted by any of the playground gossip brigade, but if I was, it undoubtedly stopped them talking about someone else for a while.

Anyway, nothing is broken and though my ankle is still pretty swollen, I can drive and can get around, albeit with a rather unattractive limp. Brisk walks are off the agenda for the foreseeable future.


Nobody Move, Nobody Gets Hurt - We Are Scientists (With Love and Squalor, 2005)

9 comments:

Mr Farty said...

Ouch! I felt that.

Now I want to hear more about Dishevelled Man. I'm a gossip vampire.

Curly K said...

Ooh it sounds painful and great timing mrs! LOL Such a drama queen really!!!

Hope you're better soon.

Julie Midas said...

Mr Farty - I'd like to know what happened to Dishevelled Man too. Sadly, it's destined to remain one of life's great mysteries...

Curly K - Drama queen? Moi?!!! Thanks for your good wishes. I'm still hobbling but hoping for some improvement sometime soon.

Anonymous said...

Ooo, dear, that really had to hurt - poor you!

As uncomfortable as it must be for you, I am glad to hear that nothing was broken. Hopefully the swelling will go down soon enough.

Look after yourself :-D

Linds xx

Julie Midas said...

Thanks Linds

My ankle is feeling much better now. I can almost walk normally again!

Julie x

The Boy said...

Ouch, nothing worse that an ice inflicted wound. One of the kids took a huge tumble skiing last week. Thankfully he was wearing his ski helmet as his head made the most god awful thump on the road.

Cat said...

My God, you're back! Sorry for checking in so late, and glad to see you back in the game. I think you were one of my first proper readers, along with Curly K and China Blue, so I feel all nostalgic! Hope you're feeling better soon, missus!

Julie Midas said...

The Boy - In all honesty, I think the humiliation was almost as bad as the pain. A skiing accident would have sounded so much more glamorous than falling outside the health centre! I'm glad your boy wasn't badly hurt. My boys have fallen off their bikes with similarly loud helmet-clad thuds.

Cat - Hey, thanks for dropping by. Yes, I've been reading your blog forever! Hopefully, I'll manage to stick around this time. The ankle is much better, thanks. I can almost execute a normal walk now, if I concentrate hard enough!

Jean said...

Just wanted to say hi :-)