Are you, "Lucky to be alive"?
Discussion
thismonkeyhere said:
evilmunkey said:
Survived the Tsunami in phukett the boxing day one. was meant to go out on a glass bottom boat but her indoors forgot the ticket when we were boarding. We had to go back to the hotel to get them for a later sailing. Luckily our Hotel was up a steep hillside and was not touched when it hit about a half hour later. The boat we were supposed to be on never came back 
the following devastation and loss of life and to watch it happen was very very sobering. I will never moan at the missus for being forgetful ever again.
the following devastation and loss of life and to watch it happen was very very sobering. I will never moan at the missus for being forgetful ever again.
Wow.Adenauer said:
knitware said:
Alpacaman said:
The only other time I thought I was about to die was when a full grown male lion walked straight up to me sat in the back of a 4x4, with the two nearside doors removed, I had both legs hanging out of the car and he looked me straight in the eye and then carried on walking. Luckily I have the video of that one to remind me.
I'd like to see that!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KO8jl3veU1A
SplatSpeed said:
polo? golf?
Polo. Chilli said:
Major Fallout said:
What is that?
I wondered that. Is it the stuff the used to tie-up the artery?Blocked intestines at 2 days old.
Through a windscreen at 14.
Worste and still get flashbacks of loosing my footing 50ft up in the roof of a factory at 21. A19 year old lad saved my life by waiting to make sure I was safe and grabbed my arm as I went.
Since then multi car pile up on the M25, crashed a Chimaera and wrote off my first Tuscan.
Through a windscreen at 14.
Worste and still get flashbacks of loosing my footing 50ft up in the roof of a factory at 21. A19 year old lad saved my life by waiting to make sure I was safe and grabbed my arm as I went.
Since then multi car pile up on the M25, crashed a Chimaera and wrote off my first Tuscan.
Old Merc said:
In 1987 I bought a car repair workshop as a going concern,I just carried on where the previous owner left.
A few weeks later my mechanic and I was working under a Morris 1000 Traveler that was at the top of a two post lift.We wanted to lower it a fraction,came out from under,pressed the button,BANG!!.One of the screws failed,in front of my nose the car dropped six feet,landed on its side and all the petrol ran across the workshop floor and out the back door.
Not only were we lucky not to have been crushed or to have been burnt alive(or dead?)and my workshop burnt to the ground.The reason was it was summer,next to the back door was a waste oil heater,in winter it glowed red hot.
Always have your equipment regularly checked and serviced.
That's reminded me of another close call I had.. I was helping a mate work on his car and we had just jacked it up and I stuck my head underneath to see if the axle stand would fit. Turns out it wouldn't and I had just come out from under the car and was saying that it needed to go a touch higher when the jack collapsed. A few seconds earlier and I'd have had two tons of Audi crushing my skull!A few weeks later my mechanic and I was working under a Morris 1000 Traveler that was at the top of a two post lift.We wanted to lower it a fraction,came out from under,pressed the button,BANG!!.One of the screws failed,in front of my nose the car dropped six feet,landed on its side and all the petrol ran across the workshop floor and out the back door.
Not only were we lucky not to have been crushed or to have been burnt alive(or dead?)and my workshop burnt to the ground.The reason was it was summer,next to the back door was a waste oil heater,in winter it glowed red hot.
Always have your equipment regularly checked and serviced.
Wow! Thought I was lucky to be alive, but some of these stories are truly amazing.
My now apparently minor incidents are, excluding lots of minor bike crashes that could have gone wrong;
In 2008 I low-sided my bike on mud at only about 15-20mph pulling away from lights. Would have just slid down the road had the car in front not done an emergency stop avoiding some other numpty in an unrelated incident. This resulted in me and the bike hitting him hard and getting spun around the side where I bent his rear wheel with my shin. I passed out and ended up in plaster for 6 months and on a stick for a year, but had it been my head it would have been game over. A few feet made all the difference.
Two years later in 2010 I had a huge heart attack (100% blockage in one artery and 75% in another). I live in the sticks and by pure chance there was a paramedic parked up on standby 2 miles from my house and an ambulance another mile away. If they had to come from the hospital I wouldn’t be here. Apparently I made it by 10 minutes. Life is rosy
Feel very lucky to still be and really do try and make the most of my time with my family and ticking a few hedonistic boxes
My now apparently minor incidents are, excluding lots of minor bike crashes that could have gone wrong;
In 2008 I low-sided my bike on mud at only about 15-20mph pulling away from lights. Would have just slid down the road had the car in front not done an emergency stop avoiding some other numpty in an unrelated incident. This resulted in me and the bike hitting him hard and getting spun around the side where I bent his rear wheel with my shin. I passed out and ended up in plaster for 6 months and on a stick for a year, but had it been my head it would have been game over. A few feet made all the difference.
Two years later in 2010 I had a huge heart attack (100% blockage in one artery and 75% in another). I live in the sticks and by pure chance there was a paramedic parked up on standby 2 miles from my house and an ambulance another mile away. If they had to come from the hospital I wouldn’t be here. Apparently I made it by 10 minutes. Life is rosy
Feel very lucky to still be and really do try and make the most of my time with my family and ticking a few hedonistic boxes
Nothing much:
Born by emergency c-section, "birth asphyxia" written in my medical notes. I pointed this out to the consultant that operated on my mum some 22 years later when I was a student on his firm.
Hit by bus when crossing a road aged 12.
Bump to the head last year of which I have no recall.
A trip and fall when running in the hills last summer in the late evening. Now I always leave my route and due time with someone.
Born by emergency c-section, "birth asphyxia" written in my medical notes. I pointed this out to the consultant that operated on my mum some 22 years later when I was a student on his firm.
Hit by bus when crossing a road aged 12.
Bump to the head last year of which I have no recall.
A trip and fall when running in the hills last summer in the late evening. Now I always leave my route and due time with someone.
Through a car windscreen at about 5 or 6 years old Don't remember anything about it now. But it was a hospital that killed me. Went in for routine stent operation 9 years ago ( heart attack 10 years ago ) and they managed to kill me. I had the jump start treatment ( VERY painful ) and all the nurses would keep saying was " you gave them a scare in there" but wouldn't tell me what had happened. One of the doctors tried telling me I had feinted, but when I asked how long they had been using defibrillators on people who feint, he just walked away. I have avoided hospitals and doctors as much as possible ever since. Yearly check with the GP and keep taking the tablets is my motto
Skiing fall?? (On a lighter note.)
I’m 30ish and on Glencoe. Fantastic snow up top but thinning towards the bottom.
I’m third in the queue bombing our way down the hill. The guy in front shouts JUMP! And pointy-stick motions across himself towards a beautifully sculptured sloping ramp of a jump directly in my line of fire.
He’s a bit awkwardly placed and slips off to the right, missing the opportunity.
Bob, in front (chicken Bob) finds an excuse to ‘go around’.
Me? I’m off like a rat up a rone pipe, compressing for the take-off, and as I start to push up and ‘extend’ I’m aware that my ski tips have just passed under the (now visible in the retreating snow) top wire of a cattle fence.
Check them forces.
TD
I 'drowned' while surfing aged 16 in 1979. Rescued and resuscitated on the beach. I still remember 'dying', after the initial struggle there was just this amazing feeling of calm. When I woke up my attitude became 'well that was death and it wasn't too bad, if that's the worst that can happen then I'm not afraid of anything. That was my attitude to life for many wild years after.
Edited by vanordinaire on Tuesday 16th December 21:49
tumble dryer said:
Me? I’m off like a rat up a rone pipe, compressing for the take-off, and as I start to push up and ‘extend’ I’m aware that my ski tips have just passed under the (now visible in the retreating snow) top wire of a cattle fence.
Check them forces.
TD
That's when you need the correct DIN settings!Check them forces.
TD
Fell of my bike in 2009....unconscious for 40mins, busted ribs, sternum, quad haematoma, lacerated arms & legs, fitting in the hospital, written off bike, 12 weeks off work. Consultant said my helmet saved me, I'd agree. It had taken a right thump & was split in two. As close a shave as I'd ever want.
I've had more than my fair share of near-misses on the road, both in cars and on motorbikes. Looking back, an inch or two or a few mph either way could have easily bought me the farm.
But they're cases when I was in control of a vehicle and somehow to me, it's the events where you are not in control that scare me more?
I guess my biggest near-miss was avoiding the Clapham Rail disaster. I was 16 at the time, doing an apprenticeship in London, commuting up by train from the South. At the time, I had a (don't laugh) little Vespa scooter that I used to ride to the train station.
It's so weird, but the thing had been totally reliable....right up until the day of the disaster. On this particular morning, she just wouldn't start. It was fine when I put it away the night before, so I was a bit peeved and started to moan about 'bloody Italian vehicles'
and realised that I would miss my train, and be late for work.
Pulling the spark plug out and giving it a clean rendered the engine finally started, and off I went.
I missed the train. Which as history suggests, was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to me, as 40 minutes later that train was in a million bits
The fickle finger of fate eh?
But they're cases when I was in control of a vehicle and somehow to me, it's the events where you are not in control that scare me more?
I guess my biggest near-miss was avoiding the Clapham Rail disaster. I was 16 at the time, doing an apprenticeship in London, commuting up by train from the South. At the time, I had a (don't laugh) little Vespa scooter that I used to ride to the train station.
It's so weird, but the thing had been totally reliable....right up until the day of the disaster. On this particular morning, she just wouldn't start. It was fine when I put it away the night before, so I was a bit peeved and started to moan about 'bloody Italian vehicles'
and realised that I would miss my train, and be late for work.Pulling the spark plug out and giving it a clean rendered the engine finally started, and off I went.
I missed the train. Which as history suggests, was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to me, as 40 minutes later that train was in a million bits
The fickle finger of fate eh?
NRS said:
tumble dryer said:
Me? I’m off like a rat up a rone pipe, compressing for the take-off, and as I start to push up and ‘extend’ I’m aware that my ski tips have just passed under the (now visible in the retreating snow) top wire of a cattle fence.
Check them forces.
TD
That's when you need the correct DIN settings!Check them forces.
TD
This was mid 80's.
You were posh if you had plastic boots!!
TD
Blib said:
IanMorewood said:
I would guess most folks over the age of say 20 have had at least one scrape with death, be it an accident, infection .....
What's yours? Bad infection at top of my leg, necessitating a few days in hospital aged 40 possibly the closest brush with death.
Total footbrake failure in a Triumph Vitesse in Tanzania was lucky, rolled into a petrol station soon after descending a steep hill. (Fractured pipe).
Also hit a rock wall in Syria, had a halfshaft break in Zimbabwe, another one in Namibia (both of which led to total brake failure as well) - could have been an issue in different circumstances.
And of course there have been a few earthquakes in Christchurch NZ over the last few years. Luckily I wasn't in the wrong place at the wrong time - but they did kill the wife of a bloke who had bought a house off me.
Then there is the general hazard of driving in New Zealand every day.
Total footbrake failure in a Triumph Vitesse in Tanzania was lucky, rolled into a petrol station soon after descending a steep hill. (Fractured pipe).
Also hit a rock wall in Syria, had a halfshaft break in Zimbabwe, another one in Namibia (both of which led to total brake failure as well) - could have been an issue in different circumstances.
And of course there have been a few earthquakes in Christchurch NZ over the last few years. Luckily I wasn't in the wrong place at the wrong time - but they did kill the wife of a bloke who had bought a house off me.
Then there is the general hazard of driving in New Zealand every day.
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