Submitted By: Andrew Corbett
This was an e-mail that he sent round the morning of 7th December 2010, detailing his eventful trip to work:
Cycling to the station in the dark this morning. Being extra careful on the icy/snowy roads. Get to the downhill part when I turn into Mount Ave (car sized alley-way) and as I’m half-way down the hill, the bike gets pulled from underneath me. Luckily me reflex(e)s are better than my spelling and I twisted mid-air to land on my back pack, but banged my elbow and grazed my left knee.
I picked my bike up, put the chain back on, twisted the handle bars and front wheel until they were pointing in the same direction and banged my front light so that the batteries went back into their slots.
I walked up the hill to see what had happened. It turns out that my front tyre had beeen snared by a loose wire from a small wire fence. Whether this was a booby trap or not, I’ll never know.
My back pack and coat were covered in mud and leaves where I’d slid down the hill and I was a bit shaken, but the show must go on.
But maybe it was a warning.
I got on the train (slightly lateer one, after the time wasted because of my fall), which after 15 mins stopped for a while, we were then told that it would terminate at Stratford and we’d have to get the tube the rest of the way. Great, I’m already late.
At Stratford I rushed off the train, down the stairs, under the subway, up the stairs and just as a Tube was about to leave, jumped onto it.
Unfortunately I slipped and my (already sore) left knee cracked on the tube floor as my leg fell down between the tube and the platform. Time stood still and sped up at the same time. Visions of being dragged along the platform played (in full High Definition) in my mind. Fortunately, I was aware enough to keep my right leg and hips on the train, so that the doors wouldn’t close and therefore the tube couldn’t move.
The other passengers pulled me up, the doors closed and off we went. Now I was standing on an extra packed Central line, pretending that I wasn’t hurt, my knee was throbbing and my elbow was sore, I was still covered in mud (and leaves), but to ease the (my) tension I mumbbled “huh, not my morning so far”, got no particular reaction, so became invisible again, which suited me..
I was the last one on train, I couldn’t stand up straight because of the curve in the doors. I was hot (wearing a coat and running up stairs) and cold (beacuse of the zero degrees weather) at the same time.
This is when I started feeling very queezy. Yep, here comes arguably the worst part. My vision started the tell tale signs of getting little brown dots. A bit like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I keep repeating to myself, “I am not going to faint, I am not going to faint”, with the odd “don’t be a wonker” and “man-up” thrown in for good measure.
What felt like an hour later, the train pulled in at the next stop and I wandered (very) Zomble-like down the platform at Mile End, until I found a seat.
So if anyone thought that they saw me with my head stuck between my legs and with my left trouser leg rolled up, making a low humming noise at Mile End this morning, at 07:10 it was me. And no, it wasn’t a secret Masons initiation.
Anyway, that was over an hour ago, a cup a of tea and a sausage + bacon bap later (the museli can go to hell this morning) and I’m ready for my next challenge.
BTW worse than all of this…….
Got home last night and my SKY TV was broken !