The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Thursday 5 July 2012

Ooops!

I managed to walk 500 miles through desert and mountains, often over uneven terrain, without falling over once.

Within five minutes of getting off the train in San Francisco, walking down a perfectly smooth pavement, I tripped over a kerb and after a few comedy staggering steps trying to right myself, down I went.

My chin took the impact. My cheek took the friction as I continued forward. Happily (if there could be any happiness in such a situation) I had my backpack on, and thus had a first aid kit at hand. As I sat dripping blood all down my (clean!) clothes and over the pavement, Mick pulled out the butterfly stitches, mopped up the blood and patched me back together.

We continued on our journey to our motel (I insisted on walking; it took a while) but when we got there I was still dripping blood, from behind the butterfly stitches, over the clothes that I really had thought would stay clean for more than half a day now that we're out of the wilds. A taxi was called and off to the hospital we went.

It was far from an emergency, but where else do you go (moreover on a public holiday) to get wounds closed up? And so we got to experience an emergency room.

It was super-fast and efficient and within half an hour I had been checked in, looked at and glued back together. Mick's handy work with the butterfly stitches was praised.

The cut looks quite pathetic now that it's closed. As for the graze on the cheek: "some women pay a lot of money for dermabrasion like that" said Mick!

8 comments:

  1. Girl after my own heart! Oh well, at least you'll have something to remember your excellent adventure by. Blood is one of the hardest stains to get out too.
    Mick, along with your penchant for long skirts, you know far too much about beauty treatments!!
    Take on the flight...

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  2. Spot the missing word, again!!
    'Care'!!
    Groan.

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  3. You daft bugger!

    Glad you've got sorted though.

    What's all this about Mick and his long skirts then?

    Do tell, your fan club needs to know....

    JJ

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  4. In joke, I'm afraid. Seem to manage to find/photographs of Mick behind a tent that then looks like a crinoline...
    Sorry!

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  5. Ouch!
    Flippin, tripin, ‘eck.

    It’s been a good journey Gayle, We have enjoyed it.

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  6. Poor Gayle that sounds painful! Plenty of TLC - but I'm sure Mick is good at that.......
    Congatulations on a fine walk - I enjoyed your posts a great deal! Thank you!

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  7. You see this is what comes of going for a walk for so much of the year. Your legs just aren't adapted to traverse flat surfaces any more :)

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  8. Sorry to hear of your accident Gayle. Get well soon. Congratulations to you both on completing your trip. Very impressive.

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