Mind the Step - Back in Time
Looking at some of the recent blogs, and suggestions about keeping notes, I decided to look through some of my old writing to see if I could get some inspiration for my blog this month, as other bloggers have mentioned too that it comes around so fast, before you know it its blog time.
I saw a brief note about a time when I bought a lovely American fridge freezer on eBay, which was almost new, and too good to refuse. What I didn’t realise when buying it was that it was actually in Yorkshire, which is about 220 miles away from us. Still, even with hiring a van for the day, petrol and a 4 hour drive, it was still well worth it.
On our way back, John mentioned that he would like to visit Peterborough, a place where he spent a lot of his childhood with his grandparents. We had left really early anyway, so had plenty of time to stop and look around.
We walked by the Whittlesey Fens, as he reminisced and soaked in the atmosphere, still able to smell the sulphur in the air from the old brickyard chimneys, and it was easy to picture what he was re-living, as he said the place itself hadn’t changed much at all, so it was like we had gone back in time. What a lovely, quiet place to sit and write.
He wondered if the old pub he used to go to was still there, and we did actually manage to find it. They were just opening up, so we went in and had drink and John had a nice chat with the fairly new owners, telling them all about the old days. John said the pub was just as he remembered it.
I happened to notice that one of the chairs at the table we were sitting at was a little bit wobbly, and I casually mentioned it to the new landlord. I said that I used to work in personal injury law for a while and wanted to spare him the hassle of having someone fall off, and put in a claim. The landlord quickly responded telling us that he actually has had someone claiming against them, and he pointed out a small 3” raised step in the flooring, which was outlined with bright yellow and black tape everywhere, so it was easy enough to see it and note that it was a small step, so beware. He told us that one of his customers didn’t see it and tripped up it on his way to the toilet. We laughed in surprise saying how could they not see all that yellow and black tape, it was so obvious that a step was there. He continued to tell us how they also came and took photos of the pub for the claim and what a nightmare it all was and they never wanted to go through that again. I said that I couldn’t believe how some people behave when it comes to making a claim, especially that they had gone to all the efforts to make people aware of the step in the first place. We felt very sorry for the couple as they seemed so nice and were doing their best with their new pub.
Well, John happened to go to the toilet, and as I sat chatting to the lovely owners, I was suddenly aware of John tumbling past me as he somersaulted off the small step and rolled like a tidal wave all the way across the floor landing on his back, just by my feet, where we were sitting. We all sat in silence. I really tried not to laugh, but it was too much. Both John and I saw the funny side of it, as we usually do, but the new landlords didn’t look very impressed at all. I think they thought that, after us listening to them talking about the claim, we suddenly had an idea how to make a quick buck. We could feel the unease in their voices and body language, trying not to show what they were really thinking, which was totally obvious, that we were trying it on too, and were probably going to make a claim against them as well. As much as they tried to ignore what had just happened, we decided it was time to leave. We couldn’t help but wonder that they were thinking they were in for another nightmare claim, especially when they saw us taking photos outside of the old pub and views, which John wanted for memories.
Of course we didn’t claim, but we did feel sorry for them, because I don’t think they seemed very convinced that John had accidentally fallen, and they may be hearing from his solicitor. I can’t take John anywhere. Never a dull moment.
God bless.
Derrice has written a book called ‘Glenna’s Angel - A Miracle from God’ which is a true encounter with an Angel that healed her mother in an ambulance from a life-threatening stroke.
Derrice has also written articles for Church magazines.
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