FOLKS…YOU BETTER BUY A HELMET
alan skeoch
Oct. 15, 2018
“It happened in the twinkling of an eye.”
“What happened?”
“I slipped…upended…feet n the air…crashed while curling” (High Park Curling Rink)
“Careless?”
“Maybe a little too overconfident…maybe too aggressive…throwing a rocket rock…take out.”
“Smart aleck!”
“Maybe, certainly my fault for sure.”
“Anyone see the fall?”
“Too many saw it. Best way to describe it was a failed attempt at a back flip in Olympic diving…only there was no
pool just a solid sheet of ice backed by concrete.”
“Couldn’t you stop yourself?”
“Anyone who has fallen knows that it happens in the twinkling of an eye…in a fraction of a second…no chance to
regain footing.”
“Let’s skip the melodrama, were you hurt?”
“Not nearly as badly hurt as I could have been.”
“Why?”
“Because I was wearing a helmet. Spared me from a major concussion.”
“So, this story is in praise of Helmets.”
“You betcha…just the second game I wore a helmet after 40 years of curling. Managed to buy the helmet
at an auction sale. Thought it seemed a good idea since I turned 80 on October 16, 2018…day after my fall”
“Hit hard?”
“Hit the ice so hard , I cracked the helmet according to Shaymus, our lead who also wears a helmet.”
“Many others wear helmets?”
“Just three of us out of 40 curlers.”
“Maybe the others are better on their feet.”
“That’s what they think, I’m sure because that is the way I thought before the fall.”
“So you are pushing for all curlers to wear helmets.”
“Yes, I most certainly am…now…especially after the hospital treatment”
“You went to the hospital?”
“Had to do so…911 medics insisted on it…anyone who bashes his or her head needs to be checked out.”
“What happened in the hospital?”
“Triage nurse asked a trick question.”
“Like”
“Like…’What year is this?’ I couldn’t give a fast answer…as a joke, sort of, I said 1979. Immediately she put
a red star on my admission bracelet.”
“Brain concussion?”
“Suppose it was possible…my wife and I spend the next 8 hours in the Emergency Ward…checking mu heart,
my chest, my back, even my feet. “
“Doctor could find noting wrong but ‘Let’s take a couple of X Rays to be sure’”
“Dead of night by then…3 a.m…got XRays of lots of my body…even my big mouth.”
“Any problem?”
“Not finished. Then I was sent for a Catscan in a big special room with a giant donut in the centre. The Do nut
big enough to fit my whole body. “Lie down there,” said the scanner.”
“Then what happened?”
“I don’t know because I closed my eyes fearing I might do some claustrophobic whimpering .”
“And what was the final result of the hospital experience?”
“We can find nothing wrong with you, Mr. Skeoch,”
“Can I go home.”
“Yes, you were a very lucky man.”
“Why?”
“Because you wore that helmet.”
“Helmets are that important, are they?”
“Obvious. They save you from a brain concussion.”
“I expect to be stiff and sore for a while…”
“Maybe…maybe not.”
“As things turned out I am not even very stiff and sore.”
alan skeoch
Oct. 16, 2018
My 80th birthday
Note: I am writing this story about 20 hours after the fall at High Park Curling Rink. I am not even
as stiff and sore as I expected. I am fine… my 80th birthday. I am a very lucky man.
And I owe my luck to wearing a HELMET. THIS IS A CAUTIONARY TALE…A MESSAGE…GET A HELMET!