One year ago today I was hit by a taxi while walking across a parking lot. Fortunately the cab wasn't going too fast but it was going fast enough. It was dark and raining that night and it didn't help that I was wearing dark coloured clothes. Ironically, right before I was hit I was thinking of how to walk gracefully in the rain.
At first I had no idea what happened. One minute I was walking a long and then time stopped moving as it normally does, or at least my time did. My life became punctuated by three seemingly unrelated and inexplicable events: I felt an explosive pain in my left leg - my head hit something, or something hit my head (I didn't know which) - my body hit the ground.
Rain was pouring down, people were shouting and I heard someone's voice above the rest cry "somebody call an ambulance!" As I lay on my side I thought my leg was shattered, it felt that way. It took me longer then you'd think to realize that I had been hit by a car.
The fire department arrived first to the scene and I was strapped onto a spinal board. Prior to that a bunch of pedestrians stood around me and one guy, whose name I unfortunately can't remember, took off his shirt and held it to my head.
As I was loaded into the ambulance I got a brief look at the cab that had hit me. The windshield was smashed, presumably from my head.
I spent the rest of the night waiting in the emergency room. I wasn't hurt bad enough to receive immediate treatment. In the end I only needed stitches near my eye and I could have asked for crutches but I declined.
All in all, I got off pretty easy. I have a strong body, and healthy bones (thanks milk). But, my knee still hurts and I'm sometimes afraid that I'm developing a phobia when crossing streets. It's nothing serious but I sometimes I catch myself bracing for an impact on my left side.
I may be a man of low grade steel but I don't want to experience that again.
