Monday, September 19, 2005

Life # 7

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.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You know, I was intrigued by this post... Not everyone you meet has been hit by a car. I'm glad you're OK.

What also struck me (pardon the pun) was your comment of how you were thinking of how to walk gracefully in the rain. I always think of that in the rain. If you stop and look at people in the rain, their faces are all screwed up or they have one shoulder all scrunched up against their neck. And then they do a funny little half run-half walk. And jump over puddles. I mean, it's water, people!!! It won't kill you.

Personally, I walk with my head up (unless the rain is falling sideways and blinding me) and I walk at the same cadence as normal. Graceful? I'm not sure, but I thought it was funny that you wrote that.