Tuesday, February 24, 2009


This darned ice. It's a real menace. The nice nursing students supervisor at work had quite a black eye. When we were alone I asked her about. She had slipped on uneven snow and ice in front of her house and bruised her hands and legs as well. She said, giggling, that it had happened on Valentine's day and her husband had refused to take her to the restaurant they had planned on, as people would assume she was an abused wife. They saw Slumdog Millionaire instead.

I came home by train and was deliberately holding onto the rail, as I went down the stairs off the platform. People rush on these stairs and in the tunnel to the car park side of the tracks for reasons I have never understood. Two or three steps from the bottom, the woman in front of me stumbled. She lurched forward and regained her balance on the floor of the tunnel. Crying out, she lost it again and fell, hitting her head against the bottom of the wall. Someone knelt down and asked if there was anyone she could call. The victim mumbled half sarcastically "How about 911?". Within about twenty seconds two nurses had materialised and what they really needed was space, so I said so to some of my fellow starers and left.

It's not just the ice. After all this accident was not on icy stairs, although they are always wet and heavily salted, but it's also big, bulky coats and gloves and the whole frustration of having to suit up to go outside.

The nice nurse supervisor at work and I discussed how often older people actually die as a result of falls and how, from our age onwards, our balance deteriorates.

4 comments:

Rosaria Williams said...

Yes, very dangerous situation for people over twenty. These injuries can inconvenience us for months. Soon, very soon, spring will begin to melt the ice and soften the ground again. And we'll forget these days for a while.

French Fancy... said...

I've never been a very good balancer - in fact I still sometimes chuckle to myself about the time I stood up and fell over on ice THREE times in the space of as many minutes. I was younger than and not scared about it - these days when I see an icy pavement I walk along like a little old lady.

Shame about the starers who like to cluster round and not add any help but just gaze at the poor soul who is suffering enough without feeling a thousand eyes on her - I've never understood it.

marc aurel said...

I'm afraid I would count myself as a starer. I was right behind her, so I checked for blood on the wall, (there was none), and wondered if she should be shifted into the "recovery position", but, as she was already on her side, I left her. It was when the nurses materialised, that I realised that there was nothing more I could do. Mantras helped some.

AphotoAday said...

Oh, you HAD to remind me of that:
"from our age onwards"...

Not much ice here in California... All are welcome...