Ugh! A light fall of snow this morning – the sort of nasty wet snow that soon turns to slush. I spared a thought for the fears of old folk, for Lizzie, Pearlie’s sister, had taken a fall last week and was very stiff and sore. I’d planned to call with her during my lunch break.
But before I could do that a woman, older than me came crashing through the office door. She was frantic. “Please help me. My husband has fallen and I can’t get him up by myself!” It was a good thing that there were two men in the boardroom engaged in a business meeting. I went straight in and told them they were needed and they sprang to their feet.
I was terribly worried as to what we were going to find but happily the gentleman appeared not to have hurt himself too badly or to have taken any sort of a turn. His first words on being helped to his feet were, “Thank God to get off that cold ground.” The poor chap was soaked to the skin so I advised his wife, now a lot calmer, to get him dry clothes and keep him warm.
I visited Lizzie as planned and found her in low spirits. Falls really knock old folk’s confidence. Added to which she was in quite a bit of discomfort. We chatted for a while and I returned to work.
But first I called in on the folks from the morning. The man appeared to have got off lightly. He told me he’d gone outside to do his few chores as normal. These usually took him an hour. When he didn’t come in at the expected time his wife went out to see what was keeping him and found him lying at the bottom of the garden. He had slipped and fallen on his side and his arthritis had prevented him from getting up. He told me he must have been lying there for 45 minutes, but that “It felt like a fortnight”. He had shouted for help but it is a long garden and no one had heard him.
One thing I noticed about the incident was afterwards when the fellows, who’d been having a rather tense meeting returned to the office, their mood seemed to have altered a little. There was less locking of horns and more of a cooperative atmosphere. That’s the effect of teamwork I suppose.
I am not happy going out in snow or frost these days. My hip is misbehaving and I do not want to fall.
ReplyDeleteI did fall in my back garden a few years back, due to a minor blackout. Thankfully I only broke my wrist and managed to pick myself up otherwise I would be still there. Alas, my neighbors are of the three monkeys variety, hear, see or say nothing!
Funny that those are just the sort of neighbours suit best when you're young and full of devilment. But not so much when you're older and could do with a bit of neighbourly interest taken in you.
ReplyDeletePfft. All this while I've though you were an original, Nelly, now I see you're just a plagiarist!
ReplyDeleteThis post is nothing but the storyline to Watchmen with the names changed! Dude falls, two parties at loggerheads, big disaster, two parties no longer at loggerheads!
I can't imagine how scary it must be to not be able to get up...On top their ego is probably bruised too.
ReplyDeleteBooker, and others, say that that the world only contains seven stories. But it's an interesting thought. In future I may construct all my blogposts as homage to classic films.
ReplyDelete