Stopping is not necessarily sudden…..

I prepared myself, gathered up the fallen stilt, more aware now of its weight and with the ease of the new, I flipped it up into the air. It rose majestically, soaring vertically for all …of…. two …..seconds, well, nano-seconds maybe, before the base drove outwards and it began to ‘flop’ sideways, well short of  even the lower branches of the tree and far below the level of the snared kite. This of course brought howls of further laughter and derision from the assembled. Not put off even yet, I retrieved the fallen item for a further attempt.

Now I trust you can recall when I first started this particular episode of what appears to have become the ‘Great Kite Saga’ (see March the 31^st ) I mentioned that even kite flying in our family could be dangerous, and never more so than on this particular event.

I have noticed over the years, with many accidents and injuries, particularly in my current occupation, that head injuries bleed an enormous amount, at least blood ‘appears’ to pour from any head wound with greater quantity of the escaping essential life force than does a simple cut to the arm or leg, save arterial injuries, which, while serious, are also fascinating in their visual form of expulsion of the blood from a wound (more on that in a later blog). Arterial blood often goes for ‘distance’, but most head injuries go for ‘area’ and look much more serious than they really are. But try explaining that to a child who’s head is cut and to his older brother (both of whom are in shock), who honestly believes that the huge amount of blood pouring from the head and covering the face, shirt and body in the space of just a few seconds, is fatal.

I got ahead of myself, not to spoil the incident I’m explaining, but to demonstrate how a simple action can go so horribly wrong.

As I said, having re-gathered the stilt and again ensured that everyone was back from me, having already seen the randomness of the falling stilt despite my apparent accuracy in projected direction, I launched the wooden missile yet again. It soared much straighter this time and while we all momentarily ‘ooohed’ and ‘ahhed’ at the flight that came so close to reaching the wedged kite, it was at that moment of apogee that our attention was drawn elsewhere. Elsewhere was, in this instance, near the base of the tree, as time suddenly entered that strangest of phases so often experienced by car crash participants and those involved in serious accidents and extreme events.

(continued tomorrow)