h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Had a fall last night.

I had put some crisps on top of a wardrobe, so that little couldn't get at them - they're for his lunch box. I told him he wouldn't be able to get them. Some time later I found he'd got a chair and piled all the pillows on to of it to reach the packet, and he'd taken one out. Serves me right for setting him the challenge.

So I decided to put them to the back of the top of the wardrobe. I got the step stool, noticed I'd placed it back to front, and thought 'I must be careful getting off, or I'll fall'.

No, I wasn't careful. I was so pleased with myself for having made the crisps unreachable, I stepped back to put my foot where the step should have been - aargh - nothing. There was that feeling of horror and disbelief. Bang, I cracked my head on the other wardrobe catch, bang I landed on my bottom. I was badly shaken and couldn't move. Blood was pouring from my head and also I had a cut on my right elbow. I lay there for a while to get my breath, before pulling myself up to sit on the bed.

Ouch!

Hope you recover soon.

Thanks, Gnomon!

Just had a salt bath. Feels good. I was very shaken last night, and lay on the floor a while while I got my breath back. Then I phoned Merlin, who told me to ring for an ambulance. I didn't think I was bad enough for that, and there was little to think about.

Luckily, I'm tough. No lasting damage.

Nicely done that woman. Next time you notice something like that, you'll turn the damn thing 'round before you stand on it, won't you?
Ever thought about just putting a lock on a cupboard?

Yes and yes!

I *knew* it would be safer if I turned it round, however it was 9.30 pm and this would be the last thing I did before going to bed. And when I rang Merlin (my mate), he told me to get a lock put on the food cupboard, He's been telling me this for ages.

Just come back from the doctor's who told me I'd made a good job of cleaning it up. I had a salt bath first thing.

He tells me I have mild whiplash.

Next stop- local hardware store for padlock and clasp, eh what?

Whiplash. You know, I could start with awful jokes about at this point, but I won't

Soon - not today. The weekend, I think.

could be fun, but again, not today.

Time for a bit of I think.

Sleep? It's the middle of the day. You'll feel more tired when you wake up, you know. Okay, I'm just jealous, I want to sleep and I'm stuck at work.

Perhaps you should eat all the biscuits now to prevent Little from getting them. Go on, you deserve them!

I like that as a solution. Must try it with the mutt (err, that's our food he snaffles, not us snaffling his)

Hi, dear Zarquhon,

So sorry to hear about your fall. I seem to remember that this is the second time that you have had a fall. You must be careful.

Fond to you both

AR1

No the first one I think you're thinking of was Merlin's. He was pushed in the road and cut his head on the front, just above his eye.

I cut mine on the back. The doctor tells me it's half the length I though it was. He also told me that where I banged it is extremely tough, so although it's tender, there's no real harm done, which is a blessing.

I've spend a lot of the day resting and I feel much better now. I did feel a fool, mind! In my job, as well!

as in "Why did the chicken climb the ladder?".

I don't know, why *did* the chicken climb the ladder?

More to the point, why did the ?

Because a Road Safety Officer had explained to it how dangerous it was to cross the road?

Oh, it's more embarrassing than that. I'm a *Home* & Road Safety Officer!

Ouch! Appropriate footwear, load-bearing equipment and helmets should be used during the tranfer of foodstuffs from one part of the building to another.

Whiplash? I would have thought a concussion, or at the very least, a leakage of common sense might have been the diagnosis.

I'm not a big fan of stepladders...
or of ladders, for that matter.
So many of them seem to have been designed for someone lighter than I.

We found that hiding food from the child was much easier if you put it at the bottom of the child's closet.
That's where she loses so many things...

I heard this rumor once, that most accidental deaths occur in the home...
or within a half a mile...

Which makes me wonder how safe it is to drive a motorized caravan...

Appropriate footwear ! Load bearing equipment (I had arms) , Protective helmet !

Leakage of common sense? Well it did strike me at the time that I should turn the step stool round, however it was late at night ...

This step stool only had steps on the one side. It was strong enough, but I didn't use it properly.

Hiding the food in the child's closet? Well, yes, often I have tried hiding things in his stuff - and it *is* the last place he looks. Merlin *doesn't* approve!

Most accidental deaths occur in the home ... yes they do, except for children, where they happen on the road.

A motorised caravan?

Keep death off the roads: drive on the pavement!

Uvula and Shnooks believe that I have an exaggerated (sp?)
sense of caution.
I am always on to them about safety and preparing one's workspace and holding knives correctly.

Though Uvula does appreciate that I had the brakes fixed and the tires replaced recently.
And after several incidents with the stove being left on recently, she's beginning to appreciate why I don't want bits of paper and plastic left on the stove top...

Some of my caution may be put down to the fact that I am tall enough to ram my head into hanging things when I am not looking. I have several prominent dents in my cranium. So, I've learned to look ahead.

Given that my job is to promote home and road safety and a safety culture, generally speaking I act in a sensible and cautious manner. The times I have failed to be suitably safe have had an input from little in one way or another. The time before was when he was winding me up in the car and I bumped the back of it - no harm done fortunately.

They say that children of single parents have twice the accidents that children with both parents have. With me, I seem to be the one who has them!