Do you remember how I complained about all the snow and ice last Sunday? I couldn’t even clear my car properly. When I got up on Monday morning and looked outside, everything was as smooth as glass. Monday being a federal holiday, none of side streets or pavements were ploughed. Not even the stairs to my house. Oh, and I live in a tiny side street. But I had to go to work. Since my car was hidden under a fat layer of ice, I actually ordered an Uber to skid to work. When the sun was out in the afternoon, I decided to take a bus home together with a colleague. I then walked the last few hundred meters home very cautiously. And still, I slipped … I only noticed once I was already up in the air. My left hand clutched my laptop bag. My brain was only surprised that I had actually slipped. And then I already hit the ground at full tilt. On the whole section of that pavement, there is only one street sign. Talented as I am, my upper spine clashed directly with the pole. I also fell on my left hand and wrist – while still clinging to my laptop bag. My first thought then was actually: I hope nothing happened to my laptop. Only then did I register the pain in all parts of my body. I just lay there, couldn’t get up immediately and shed a few tears. After a while – I actually think it might have only been seconds, but when in pain and at minus 20 °C it felt much longer – I got up and hobbled home. It was only another minute. Once the shock had subsided and I had checked that my computer was okay, the pain properly set in. I knew that nothing was broken, but bruises are excruciatingly painful as well. Ibuprofen became my best friend for a few days.
And the realization? I should have listened to my gut instinct. Initially, I hadn’t wanted to leave the house at all on Monday, knowing how dangerously slippery it was outside. Next time I’d rather call in sick and live with a queasy conscience instead of risking pain again (and just FYI: those days with those gut instincts don’t happen all the time, I’d say it is more of a once in four years day). It also made more aware how helpless I’d be if I really broke some bones because, living alone, there wouldn’t be anybody there to support me. Although the cat, of course, would be exuberantly happy if only I stayed at home for a bigger amount of days.
|Watched| The Great British Baking Show
|Read| Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*, Reign of Mist*, The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm: Tales from Alagaesia*, Quidditch Through the Ages*
|Listened to| Damien Rice
|Done| worked, slipped on ice and bruised all of me, stayed home sick, worked more, went to the Damien Rice concert, worked even more when attending Harvard MUN Conference with students from Thursday to Sunday
|Eaten| Turkish yogurt soup, pancakes, orzo salad, all kinds of sandwiches, oh and some excellent painkillers
|Drunk| water, tea, coffee, Red Bull
|Thought| five months and one week
|Been happy| that I didn’t break any bones when I slipped
|Laughed| at the first day of the conference a girl walked up to me and asked what committee I was in – and I told her that I was actually an adviser – man, did I feel good that somebody thought I didn’t look that much different from all those students half my age
|Desired| much more sleep, please
|Bought| a book and a pair of sunglasses
|Clicked| I am always a little curious about other people’s lives: How much time I spend blogging in a week; Masha wrote an accurate post about our generation being self-optimizers: Don‘t Lose Yourself
© janavar
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