{"id":1661,"date":"2018-10-28T22:52:55","date_gmt":"2018-10-29T02:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=1661"},"modified":"2018-10-28T23:03:33","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T03:03:33","slug":"fwd-i-fell-at-the-curling-rink-could-have-been-disastrous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=1661","title":{"rendered":"Fwd: I FELL AT THE CURLING RINK: COULD HAVE BEEN DISASTROUS"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
Begin forwarded message:<\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

From: <\/b><\/span>SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com<\/a><\/a>>
<\/span><\/div>\n
Subject: <\/b><\/span>I FELL AT THE CURLING RINK: COULD HAVE BEEN DISASTROUS<\/b>
<\/span><\/div>\n
Date: <\/b><\/span>October 16, 2018 at 2:18:32 PM EDT
<\/span><\/div>\n
To: <\/b><\/span>askeoch@bellnet.ca<\/a><\/a>, High Park Club <manager@highparkclub.com<\/a><\/a>>
<\/span><\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
FOLKS\u2026YOU BETTER BUY A HELMET<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 15, 2018<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cIt happened  in the twinkling of an  eye.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI slipped\u2026upended\u2026feet n the air\u2026crashed while curling\u201d  (High Park Curling Rink)<\/div>\n
\u201cCareless?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMaybe a little too overconfident\u2026maybe too aggressive\u2026throwing a rocket rock\u2026take out.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSmart aleck!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMaybe, certainly my fault for sure.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnyone see the fall?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cToo many saw  it.  Best way to  describe  it was  a failed attempt at a back flip in Olympic diving\u2026only there was  no<\/div>\n
pool just a solid sheet of ice backed by concrete.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCouldn\u2019t you stop yourself?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnyone who has fallen knows that it happens in the twinkling of an eye\u2026in a fraction of a second\u2026no chance to<\/div>\n
regain footing.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s  skip the melodrama, were you hurt?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot nearly as badly hurt as  I could  have been.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBecause I was wearing a helmet.  Spared me from a  major concussion.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSo, this story is in praise of Helmets.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou  betcha\u2026just the second game I wore a helmet after 40 years of curling.  Managed to buy the helmet <\/div>\n
at an auction sale.  Thought it seemed a good idea  since I turned 80 on October 16, 2018\u2026day after my fall\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHit hard?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHit the ice so hard , I cracked the helmet according to Shaymus, our lead who also wears a helmet.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMany others wear helmets?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cJust three of  us out of 40 curlers.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMaybe the others are better on their feet.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what they think, I\u2019m sure because that is the way  I thought before the fall.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSo  you are pushing for all curlers to wear helmets.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes, I most certainly am\u2026now\u2026especially after the hospital treatment\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYou went to the hospital?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHad to do so\u2026911 medics insisted on it\u2026anyone who bashes his or her head needs to be  checked out.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cWhat happened in the hospital?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cTriage  nurse asked  a trick question.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLike\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cLike\u2026’What year is  this?\u2019   I couldn\u2019t give a  fast answer\u2026as a joke, sort of, I said  1979.  Immediately she put<\/div>\n
a red  star on my admission bracelet.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBrain concussion?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cSuppose it was possible\u2026my wife and I spend the next 8 hours in the Emergency Ward\u2026checking mu heart, <\/div>\n
my chest, my back,  even my feet.  \u201c<\/div>\n
\u201cDoctor could  find noting wrong but \u2018Let\u2019s  take a  couple of X Rays to be sure\u2019\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cDead  of night by then\u20263 a.m\u2026got XRays  of lots of my body\u2026even my big  mouth.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAny problem?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cNot finished.   Then I was sent for a Catscan in a big special room with a giant donut in the centre.  The Do nut <\/div>\n
big enough to fit my whole body.  \u201cLie down  there,\u201d said the scanner.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cThen what happened?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know because I closed  my eyes fearing I might do some claustrophobic  whimpering .\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAnd what was the final result of the hospital experience?\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cWe can find nothing wrong with you, Mr. Skeoch,\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cCan I go home.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cYes, you were a very lucky man.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cBecause you wore that helmet.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cHelmets are that important, are they?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cObvious.  They save you from a brain concussion.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cI expect to be stiff and sore for a while\u2026\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cMaybe\u2026maybe not.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u201cAs  things turned out I am not even very stiff and  sore.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Oct. 16, 2018<\/div>\n
My 80th birthday<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Note:  I am writing this story about 20 hours after the fall at High Park Curling Rink.   I am not even<\/div>\n
as stiff and  sore as I expected.  I am fine… my 80th birthday.  I am a very lucky man.<\/div>\n
And  I owe my luck to wearing a  HELMET.  THIS IS A  CAUTIONARY TALE\u2026A MESSAGE\u2026GET A HELMET!<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n


<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Begin forwarded message: From: SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com> Subject: I FELL AT THE CURLING RINK: COULD HAVE BEEN DISASTROUS Date: October 16, 2018 at 2:18:32 PM EDT To: askeoch@bellnet.ca, High Park Club <manager@highparkclub.com> FOLKS\u2026YOU BETTER BUY A HELMET alan skeoch Oct. 15, 2018 \u201cIt happened  in the twinkling of an  eye.\u201d \u201cWhat happened?\u201d \u201cI slipped\u2026upended\u2026feet n the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}