Love 'n Death

Many years ago The Prof was overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from a faulty boiler.
He was alone in his flat and was only saved, literally from death, by a neighbour who heard him collapse against a mirror in the bathroom.
Fate, destiny, good fortune, luck was smiling on him that day.
Without that neighbour he would have died.
And I wouldn't be sat here writing this
I was thinking about this today after a farm lorry just skimmed me as it turned up the Marian. The driver had misjudged the gap between me and the trailer and as I picked up Mary before stepping into the hedgerow to give it room, I felt the whoosh of the metal body work an inch from my face.
I nearly drowned when I was ten.
It was in Lloret del mar and I slipped out of my rubber ring!
It was a near silent drowning and I never met the man who pulled me out at the last minute.
Without him, The Prof would be without a husband!

We never think that life can be so fickle and death so arbitrary
I've thought it today and it frightened me. 

52 comments:

  1. Everything can change in an instance. The thought can be overwhelming so I bury it and put my fingers in my ears....lah lah lah lah. Glad I finally got my will together, things are in order just in case.

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  2. Okay but what kind of lorry was it? Was it a Daf or perhaps an Iveco? Was it by chance a Scania R440? Do you know if it was an Eddie Stobart vehicle? I am still hoping to tick Hilary Louise and Celia Rose off my fleet list.

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  3. One night during WWII a German bomb flattened the house next door to the house of my grandparents and their 6 children. My grandad instinctively, without thought for his own safety, ran into the street to check on his neighbours, an elderly married couple. He found them, or what remained of them, lying on the ground in the middle of the street with their arms around each other. They were both dead. It could just as easily been my grandparents, my five aunts and uncles, and my mother.

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    1. My great grandfather was killed in an air raid in Liverpool. My grandmother and mother almost went to the same shelter but my gran had a premonition so ran to another shelter

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  4. Sometimes near death is obvious and we step back and gasp and think, so close, oh my god. So close.
    I wonder if there have been many, many brushes with death that we aren't even aware of. The street taken instead of that one, the bacteria avoided by an inch of distance between us and another, the going-back into the house to retrieve the forgotten library book. Who knows? But when it is obvious, it can be mind-boggling. I am glad that both you and Mary are okay.

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    1. I think this is what chilled me today, you have described it so well. Who knows? Who knows?

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  5. Scary thought, but that stuff happens, sorry to say.

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  6. Our lane is narrow and the main traffic is farm vehicles often with trailers. I have this experience sometimes too John.
    I am sure with your work in hospitals where you have seen death so many times people think you are inured to it. In fact I think the opposite is true.
    Glad you ended up together and so happy. Make the most of every moment.

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    1. Yes weave, I am glad not to be working on itu anymore. Too much death there to see

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  7. Yes, it's chilling thinking of the narrow escapes many (most?) of us have had at some point of our fragile lives which could have been snuffed out in an instant. I'm often thinking that some kind of force is preserving us for until we've fulfilled our individual purposes, whatever that may be. On the other hand, that could just be a load of self-justifying tommyrot!

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    1. Fickle finger of fate.....best not to think too long or too hard at it raymondo

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  8. Chilling, yes? So many times in our lives disaster (whether we knew it or not) was only milliseconds away. Yet, here we are, still tempting fate.

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  9. I took two granddaughters on a short spring break. Changed my life forever. I'm still working on it. Glad you could get far enough into the hedgerow.

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  10. Happily you are here to tell the tale, John.

    When, what you describe, happens it puts a magnifier on the amazing fact that we are here at all. Last time I had a taste of what you describe it was so close, so close, so close I felt vomit rising up my oesophagus as I staggered back from the kerb towards some walling behind me to steady myself, realising the close shave I had had. I was just about to set foot on a road - a fairly fast ONE way street I cross several times every day - when a car came round the bend, at ridiculous speed, WRONG direction. I have since observed that a lot of people crossing that road will only look in the direction of where they EXPECT cars to come from. Though I always look both ways it wouldn't have mattered. It was, at least to my conscious knowledge, one of the closest I have ever come to being roadkill. I still feel sick every time I remember it. A split second later and I'd made a splash.

    On the other hand, John, an aneurysm can sneak up on us any moment. If I want to frighten myself and put everything in perspective I think ... aneurysm ... As long as it's not when visiting the loo.

    Bon chance,

    U

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    1. Best not to know when the end is coming

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  11. Someone in my family hitched a ride with a trucker on a mountain road .... a recipe for disaster.
    Truck crashed, down a mountain , family member rolled around inside , landed on the ground, outside next to the cab of the truck .. a car passing by saw the crash, it happened to be full of nurses on their way to work .. family member saved ..and lived to tell the tale.
    My husband had a blood test. It caused a blood clot. The clot killed him.
    You never know ...

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    1. I didn't know having blood taken could cause a fatal clot. That's scary to know.

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    2. Everything out of left field

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    3. Exactly, John ...

      Jan , it involved a whole set of circumstances that I did not bother to include .. an ordinary blood being taken is not a cause for concern .. the method of blood taking was not what most people would be dealing with .. it isn't a dangerous thing to do .. just don't go to the doctor that my husband went to :)

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  12. Strangely this sort of stuff really fascinates me. I'm a firm believer in fate - like Ms Moon said above, there must be loads of instances when we don't even realise we had a lucky escape.
    I've had 2 in my life that I'm aware of.

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  13. That fear is heightened for me at the moment, as is everything and anything that could remotely frighten me.

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  14. I'm not sure if I've ever had any close shaves but now I'm going to start worrying.

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  15. Twenty six years ago, husband to be and I were overcome by carbon monoxide fumes from a faulty boiler. We had just moved to Spain and were in a temporary apartment we had just missed out renting long term. We felt dizzy and headachey so kept windows open as I thought the recently painted apartment was giving us the headaches. We moved out as arranged.
    The permanent tenants were nearly killed by carbon monoxide fumes as they kept the windows shut when they took ill. Very lucky for them the boiler blew up and they were rescued while unconscious. It could have been us. The boiler had been serviced before the place was rented out. We were friends with the owner !!!!

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    1. Nowadays there are carbon monoxide sensor gadgets.

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    2. I have two in the living room

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  16. Both of your guardian angels deserve overtime pay!

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  17. I think just as scary--or worse--is realizing you might have caused someone else's untimely demise . . . the nighttime jogger who thinks you can see him, the child whose parents have let him wander into the street, the object thrown in exasperation that could have hit someone as your aim is none too good, etc. It's made me be doubly cautious, once for myself, once for the innocents in the world.

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  18. You two are truly blessed.

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  19. Tomorrow is not promised. Love each other up every chance you get!

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    1. We never do though do we, we all sweat the small stuff

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  20. Glad you both survived!

    lizzy

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  21. Happy to know you both survived and are together !

    cheers, parsnip

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  22. Life is full of 'if's.

    Luckily you both landed on the right side of your 'if.'

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    1. I guess I'm feeling rather mortal today

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  23. Oh yes. Death is often a heartbeat away.

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  24. When I'm not happy i pin my hopes on the idea that t hings can change in a moment but of course it works both ways.
    I bet you have a nice strong cuppa after that!

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  25. We need to enjoy everyday....there are no guarantees we will be here tomorrow.

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  26. I read somewhere that in our lives we often get a set of exit points. Times where we could die or live, sometimes it goes one way, sometimes the other.

    We are glad you are both still with us.

    Julieq

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    1. Shit happens ...I guess that covers it for me

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  27. Lately, while sitting in the passenger seat of the car my husband is driving, I have near death experiences.

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  28. Ouch, that is scary. I had a close call a few days ago - the street that ours t's into is partially closed - you can only exit it via the wrong lane, lots of fencing and road cones so it's easy to spot, I turned left out of our street, knowing noone could be coming from my right, when an fuckwit guy nearly took me out driving in the wrong lane, to skip the queue of traffic to run right into mine. He didn't even look, or swerve, and just kept going, oblivious. GAH.

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  29. I had a close call with my daughter about 18months or so ago. I still feel panicky when I walk past that place. She nearly walked into a lorry going full pelt around a corner (with pelican crossing). I grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Split second. Everything would have changed.
    x

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  30. Glad you both were saved for each other. Wishing you no more close calls but plenty of continued gratitude. Whew!

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  31. When my time comes, something will get me. I am careful, and realize the fragility of life. Take care and be careful.

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