Blogging After My Accident

So I am now blogging in the afternoon...wow I haven't done that since in Alma. Since I can't do that at my museum job right now, this obviously means I am at "home" (billeting house to be exact). I am staying in for the day because of a "dramatic" event that happened to me yesterday...and since I have quite a bit of time right now I have decided to tell the story in the long format, for you unlucky people, hehe. And well, also because I haven't properly blogged for such a long time...I really should be more diligent with that, especially with all the stuff that has happened since our arrival in Castlegar, BC

So the story (long format). This goes back to Friday, after I wrote my blahgins blog. As per usual, I rode my borrowed bike to work, and as I was changing the gear while climbing uphill, the gear locked but so did the pedals..so I couldn't pedal. Luckily I wasn't that far away from the house, so I walked back, and called my boss. He offered to drive me to work but since I lived in a location that was relatively difficult to find, I told him to find me at the old Schoolhouse Restaurant (a known landmark in the area). But I didn't see him there, so I decided to continue walking on the highway and hopefully see him driving up. Well I must have walked 30 minutes (in muggy 30 something degrees, no less) on the highway before I see his car driving on the other side. He honked, I got into the air conditioned car, and all was well...except for the bus ride back home. Castlegar has only 1 bus route available and it takes an hour to do the whole route...and unfortunately the bus did not stop where I needed to get off (the bus driver told me I missed the last one that did) so I had to walk from downtown back to the little suburb in hot interior heat (ok it wasn't that bad...they only lived a 20 minute walk from downtown).

That night Jim (my billet dad) fixed my bike, and he noticed that my front tire was flat (which I was confused about since people pumped it for me during my bike-a-thon from Nelson to Castlegar only 2 weeks ago) so he added air for me. But it got flat again the next day so Karina (my billet mom) pumped it again and added a cover for the airhole (since my tire didn't have a cover for the hole). And yesterday we found out the tire got flat again so Karina decided that I should borrow Arija (my 11 year-old billet sister who is about my height ;P)'s bike instead, so I did that...here's where the story gets interesting.

Arija has a really good bike, with brakes that stop immediately after you press them...too good to be true. And that's was what happened to me after I got off work yesterday...I was biking on the highway in a bike owned my an 11 year old (I was pretty close to the house) and I was going downhill...I braked and it stopped immediately. Well if you can imagine those old cartoons, it looked exactly like that...I flew out of my bike and fell on to the pavement. I will give you a couple of seconds to imagine that...

...so I was on the pavement and I don't know...I was in shock at what just happened and I just started gasping. And before I know it, I see 2 ladies' faces asking me if I was ok, what my name is...then more faces appeared. Most of them were men who just got off work, and a good number asked me what happened and all that stuff...someone called 911 (I was thinking, oh no...the police will fine me for not wearing a helmet), while another person (who worked for construction or paramedics or something like that) had walkie-talkies and tried diverging traffic...everything felt so surreal, with all these people hurrying around me and me just lying on the ground...oh yes then out of nowhere Cheryl shows up with her billet family (they drove past and saw me) and she was like "Angel oh my god...". I got her to take the bike away and bring it back to the house, though, which was good...
Popular question amongst the crowd - Where's your helmet?

Then the ambulance shows up and the paramedics did the whole first-aid drill...one guy was pretty cute with blond hair and blue eyes, it was too bad I looked pretty disgusting at that point...then they put me in this stretcher bed and pushed me into the ambulance car...as they do that I saw blood on the concrete...man the surreal factor just goes up so much more...
During the ride the cute paramedic asked me a bunch of questions, ranging from where I was from and what happened and all that stuff...fortunately I felt fine enough that when he asked where my home is, I answered with "where the heart is, haha". And the question of the day, no less..."Where's your helmet?"

So the rest of the time was kind of anti-climatic, in my opinion. The nurse comes in, checks on me and asks a bunch of questions. Then the paramedic comes in, says goodbye (not before warning me to wear my helmet next time)...and I was alone for a little bit. Suddenly...

...the police shows up. I was thinking "darn is he going to fine me for not wearing my helmet" but it turns out he just needed to do a file on me since someone called 911. So he asks me a bunch of questions on where I am from and what happened. And finally he ends the whole thing by saying "wear your helmet next time". Haha apparently he handles around 100 cases of this on a daily basis...he must be so jaded about it.

Then Karina shows up (she looked rather worried) with Cheryl (which was quite a surprise). While I got bandaged by the nurse, Karina and Cheryl and I chatted and shared "katimavik-gossip"...quite a load of drama happened this week during billeting, it seems. Maybe I will talk about them at another time.
Finally I got driven home by Karina...Cheryl apparently contacted Christine (my PC) who contacted Karina so that's how she found out. Oh yes the nurse reminded me to wear my helmet. And that night, instead of watching Harry Potter with Arija and her little buddy and Karina, I indulged the evening vegging out in front of the TV, half dead from the medication while informing my mother very lightly what happened to me (she freaked out nevertheless).
So today I don't have to work...in a way it was good because I haven't been in an empty house free from work ever since...katimavik started? So that is why I can write all this stuff right now.
Yay silver lining!

Ok that's not it with the silver lining...the fact that I didn't sustain any head injury or break anything was really quite something (even my glasses weren't crushed). Plus I wasn't fined by the police, which is just great. Now I just need to check if my CD player is broken too (someone laughed when they find out that not only was I not wearing my helmet, I was also listening to music too...)

Moral of the story - Wear a helmet. And don't ride a bike owned by an 11 year old with glue-like tractions.

Injuries sustained - mildly scraped knees (good thing I was wearing jeans), scrape on right shoulder, various cuts and torn skins on both hands (especially right one), and a giant red gash on right cheekbone which needs icing. Plus I bit the inside of my mouth too. And who can forget my very tender left wrist...

Something interesting - 1) This is actually not the first bike accident I had in Castlegar. Last last Friday (the Friday before my 72 hours off) I fell of my bike at Kinnaird Bridge. But that's more with skills, and I just scrapped my right palm and my knees.
2) However, this is the first time in my life that I got into an ambulance, with the whole 911 and people crowding drama included. Katimavik makes a first for everything, doesn't it?