A little more on life’s small mercies
So I was run into by a Cyclist on Monday night and sprained numerous body parts. I can’t really walk at the moment except with the aid of copious codeine and ibuprofen. Duly dosed up on this I left the house around lunchtime as I could no longer stand (a) being horizontal (b) being inside and (c) being sans caffeine. So I decided to attempt a walk to my coffee shop of choice (se chama ‘Bravo’, Rua Enmore). The coffee shop is roughly three hundred metres from my door, and I can average about 30 seconds a metre once I’ve got some speed up. The nice ladies at the coffee shop were horrified at the sight of my ballooning foot and technicolour bruises. They asked me a million questions, including:
Nice lady: What’s your star sign?
Me: I was born on the cusp of Aries and Pisces, apparently.
Nice lady: Ohh, Aries. They’re very accident prone.
Me: Ohmygod! And I was hit by a car once too!
Nice lady (nodding sagely): And you’ll find that you are always attracted to other people who were born on the cusp.
Me: Ohmygod! Yes! I have stacks of cuspian friends!
Nice lady: I was born on the cusp. Of Capricorn and Aquarius.
Me: WOW. SO WAS MY BEST FRIEND.
Nice lady (more sage nodding): You should take care now. I bet you’ve taken painkillers just to leave the house today.
Me: !
Nice lady: That’s three dollars please.
She *knows*, man.
As I shuffled home I thought about how these random accidents intercept otherness for a little while. I feel like I’m getting some strange insight into what it must be like to be hardly able to move on a permanent basis (much like when I was hit by said car and spent two weeks flat on my back in the orthopaedic ward, surrounded by eighty year olds awaiting hip replacements). It is so frustrating. People stare at you. I find myself smiling at people to reassure them that I’m not retarded or psychopathic, just a tad swollen.
But it’s a treat to be tuned into the radio all day. Yesterday they played Klaus Nomi on 2ser. And today they did a story on the Cave Clan, with one notable exception.
Dude, like, just be done with it and get yourself a motorcycle already.
You too can be on the other end of the stick, and be the hitter not the hittee.
Comment by Frasco — 2/8/2007 @ 11:14 pm
Whoa, that must have been one impressive accident. On the upside, being physically unable to move means you’re sort of trapped and forced to work on your thesis. And that’s an upside, right?
Comment by Ianto — 2/9/2007 @ 11:15 pm
Oh, my little Annie! It’s not fair, not fair at all. But, walking on the sunny side of the street here, although these things come in threes, you seem to be decreasing the fatality-likeliness of the vehicles with which you are struck. See: first it was a car, now it’s a bike … next, it’ll probably be a six year old rollerblader or a fluffy bunny rabbit on a skateboard. There, that makes you feel better, doesn’t it?
Also, here’s a good sign: my computer is playing ‘Born to be Alive’ by Patrick Hernandez right now, so hurry up and get better so you can get your groove back on, Des Landers!
Big kisses to you (X), as well as hugs that aren’t too crushing (o).
Comment by Chelle — 2/10/2007 @ 1:29 pm