A sad day

[Renard]

Thank you all for your kind words.

 

[Noodley]

<Christ, how did I miss this thread before now? >

Hope you are okay BJB.

 

[Renard]

The other thing about it is the OH had a bump today when she lost control on an untreated bend on a country road. The car is damaged all along the passenger side but no harm done. There was a car coming the other way at the time too. What happened puts this into perspective as it was only metal which was damaged.

 

[Noodley]

The other thing about it is the OH had a bump today when she lost control on an untreated bend on a country road. The car is damaged all along the passenger side but no harm done. There was a car coming the other way at the time too. What happened puts this into perspective as it was only metal which was damaged.

It also demonstrates that sometimes one happens to be "lucky", and seemingly inconsequential events have serious impact.

I was watching Mrs Noodley jumping her horse this weekend and she took a fall (quite spectacular, crashing through a fence, arse over tits, came down hard, with the horse narrowly missing rolling onto her) and everything went into "slow motion" for me.

I thought she was seriously injured, but she got up. Then she went dizzy and collapsed before recovering again. She is okay now, but for a while I was really worried. She, on the other hand, thought it was "just a tumble" and was back on her horse the next day.

I have not told her how close the horse came to her...nor how one of the broken poles landed about 2 inches from her torso and embedded in the ground. I may save that until she complains about me going out on audax rides...

I must admit, for a very brief time (although it seemed much longer) I thought I had lost her...

 

[Fab Foodie]

It also demonstrates that sometimes one happens to be "lucky", and seemingly inconsequential events have serious impact.

I was watching Mrs Noodley jumping her horse this weekend and she took a fall (quite spectacular, crashing through a fence, arse over tits, came down hard, with the horse narrowly missing rolling onto her) and everything went into "slow motion" for me.



I must admit, for a very brief time (although it seemed much longer) I thought I had lost her...

Blimey, she must be pretty athletic...Horses are tall buggers...
Glad to hear she's OK.

I think as cyclists we accept (as do climbers, horse-riders, scuba divers, etc) that we are prepared to accept a tad more risk in order live life the way we want to live.
However it is the loss of life doing the mundane...driving to work on an average day that somehow seems all the more depressing...

 

[Noodley]

However it is the loss of life doing the mundane...driving to work on an average day that somehow seems all the more depressing...

For me, cycling is "mundane", as is horse riding to Mrs Noodley. As is whatever other thing someone just "does". To others it may be "dangerous"...yet there seems to be an attachment of blame, of weirdness, of "otherness" to these things as they are not "mainstream". Yet at the same time there is a "deservedness" or "anticipatory" inevitablility to injury.

"Mundane" events such as driving on the other hand... It is seen as "one of those things" which can happen to anybody, yet which, when it occurs, should not result it apportioning blame to anyone. Which is wrong. OK, sometimes accidents do happen, but usually someone has taken an action or neglected to take an action which leads to the "accident". And I am speaking as a former Police Officer who has been at many a death on the roads involving motor vehicles...we really do need to change the way we think. How many more "mundane" events must people accept? ...

Sorry for the hijack BJB. And sorry for the rant, but...(okay, just because)

 

[Dave5N]

I know it's hard, but don't leave it too late. We did with our old (21yo) cat, and I won't go into details, but it's a lot more distressing.

 

[domtyler]

It also demonstrates that sometimes one happens to be "lucky", and seemingly inconsequential events have serious impact.

I was watching Mrs Noodley jumping her horse this weekend and she took a fall (quite spectacular, crashing through a fence, arse over tits, came down hard, with the horse narrowly missing rolling onto her) and everything went into "slow motion" for me.

I thought she was seriously injured, but she got up. Then she went dizzy and collapsed before recovering again. She is okay now, but for a while I was really worried. She, on the other hand, thought it was "just a tumble" and was back on her horse the next day.

I have not told her how close the horse came to her...nor how one of the broken poles landed about 2 inches from her torso and embedded in the ground. I may save that until she complains about me going out on audax rides...

I must admit, for a very brief time (although it seemed much longer) I thought I had lost her...

That reminds me of watching some horse jumping on the telly a year or two ago and a horse landed on a broken wooden pole and punctured an artery. At first I thought it had ripped a sand bag or something as all this 'stuff' was falling onto the floor. I quickly realised that this was actually blood Nasty!
Obviously the horse was sadly dead within half an hour.

It was the Badminton 2007 horse trials and the horse was Icare D’Auzay

 

[Pete]

Not had the experience of losing a colleague with whom I was actually working, though I suppose it could happen to any of us, any time. We all need to be able to deal with it, to recover from it. At work, I suppose the personal grief attending the death of a close friend or relative is lessened, but you have the added burden of suddenly having to re-organise workload, train a replacement, etc. I can well understand how tough a time it must be....

The nearest I can remember from my own experience, concerned the guy in charge of the installation, of a system for which I had been working on the software. Not been working directly in my group, but close enough. He'd been hospitalised for several weeks some months earlier, hepatitis, but seemed to have made a good recovery and appeared to be healthy. One evening, he was out with a friend at the local swimming pool. He went down the 'flume' and into the water - and never came up again. Dead at the scene. I never heard the follow-up - not even sure if there was an inquest - but some reports said he'd had a heart attack on the way down. Whatever the cause, came as a considerable jolt to the rest of us.

 

[bobg]

You have my deepest sympathy too BJB. I lost a good friend only last week and am about to leave to go the funeral today. Cathryn summed it up better than I could have - I don't have the words