When I was about 5 years old I was at a friend's birthday party in Highgate. The parents were all out the back talking and drinking while the rest of us grabbed some gear to go play softball in the park across the street. I was one of the last ones to cross the street and without looking ran across to catch up with the others. We later figured out that I was hit at speed in the stomach, bounced my forehead off the hood and fell limply back onto the road. In a daze I crawled to a nearby verge and lost consciousness. Luckily all I was left with was a nasty bump on the head.
When I was about 6 years old I climbed a tree at Shenton Park Lake near my house and fell off the top of it - ass first. I went to a chiropractor a couple of years ago and it turns out that's one of the big causes of my back issues that come and go from time to time - I knocked my hips out of alignment.
When I was about 8 years old I tripped over in the playground at school and fractured my right arm. To this day I still have some weird discoloration on that arm as a result of the cast I had on for 6 weeks.
When I was about 9 years old I was cruising around the bays of Rottnest island with my parents; mamma was being towed behind the boat on a surf-ski, dad was driving and I was sitting up front. When mamma came off the surf-ski dad stopped suddenly to let her get back on. Once he got the thumbs up from mamma he started up again and drove off. Unfortunately for me he was concentrating on mamma and hadn't realised that I fell of the front when he stopped suddenly and as a result I got driven over by the propellor. Fortunately for me it missed all my vitals but to this day I am left with a tender little scar on my left ankle (which my sister has an almost identical scar on her right ankle from a father-daughter bicycle incident I won't go into here).
I then went a few years without causing myself any harm of note for some reason... Then, shortly after discovering alcohol when I was about 14 years old; I was on my way back to a friend's house in Jolimont and taking a shortcut through a small park. In a hurry to get back to the party we were running at speed. This combined with the darkness meant that I didn't see the chain that then connected two of these wooden posts on the edge of the park. My left knee was the victim here and this coupled with later acts of stupidity and misfortune has left it in a considerably vulnerable position.There are a couple of incidents a little more directly related to alcohol including diving from a moving bus (strangely enough from which I walked away completely unscathed other than some grass stains on my shirt) and jumping over 5 stairs full of people in a crowded bar, about which I will spare you the details.
Moving on to 23 years of age and into my blogged life you might already know about the couch incident in Whistler. All set for my first season in the snow; only days before the resort opened and I was to start work I did a casual little leap over the couch in our lounge room to get to the kitchen more quickly and pow; torn cartillage in my knee knocking me out for close to 3 months. Funnily enough I went straight on from that incident to complete two snowboard instructor certifications and start a budding little career.Fast forward 12 months towards the end of my second season in the snow and my dad has come to visit me in Norway. After a huge dump we were out in a beautifully sunny day and I decided to get a bit cocky and show off for pappa in the park. Having only been skiing for a few weeks this was not the smartest of moves... It was all going fine for the first couple of runs until one of my skis came off on a landing and the very same knee sent a shooting pain through me as I came to a wild and sudden stop. At first I thought I had redone the same injury but it later turned out to be a crush fracture just below my knee. I was given the option of surgery but opted for the natural path. I am happy I did that as since then I have had pretty much no problems.
In some ways I have been lucky. Three trips to Thailand now and I have still not been robbed, attacked, lost a credit card or passport; I've not even been charged for losing my roomkey (the most common of Thai misfortunes)- the worst I got was either a bacterial infection from running around the streets of Bangkok barefoot at 4am or having one of a pair of expensive shoes stolen (which mysteriously turned up 3 days later). For this I am thankful.
Hopefully now, as I grow a little older and hopefully wiser; the frequency of such incidents will reduce. But sometimes hope is just that; the stupidity of youth.
