Categories: uncategorized
Date: 03 March 2006 11:50:19
Last week mr b and baby b and I were shopping in a city not far from here. It was, as you might recall if you were out and about in britain last saturday, very cold indeed.
On our way back to the car, we saw a woman who had had a very nasty fall. There were a few people around her. On first sight, I think we both thought she was dead, as she wasn't moving or making any noise. Then she started to move her hand and groan, surprisingly loudly. (I thought afterwards, I bet she didn't realise she was making the noise, but wondered where it was coming from. People often say that, and it's an experience I've had myself, in a car accident, hearing screaming and then realising it was me). Someone was on the phone, calling an ambulance. There was A Lot Of Blood.
I never know what to do in these situations. People were with her, and someone was calling an ambulance, so what else could we do? But I hate walking past and doing nothing. So I went over to see if there was anything I could do. It was very cold, and she just had a coat on, so I offered to go and see if I could rustle up a blanket from somewhere. We could hear the ambulance siren though, and by the time I'd got something, it would probably be there, so I checked there was nothing else to be done, and went on back to the car. I'd guess when you're lying groaning in a pool of your own blood you don't want that big an audience.
It was only as we got back to the car I realised that none of the people there was holding her hand, or even really talking to her. The uncharitable part of me suspects that this is because none of them wanted to get blood on their clothes. The charitable part of me isn't sure what to think.
I should have stayed.