So, whilst I may not feel lucky, I was, in fact, incredibly lucky yesterday.
I had what I can only describe as a nice day at work and headed home. Part way home the Viva overheated and I pulled over. Cutting a long (and dumb) story short I ended up with a hand and face full of boiling hot coolant and steam. Slightly panicked I realised I needed (a) an ambluance and (b) (rather more urgently) something cold. The car proved to be lacking anything cold (like water, for example), and so I dashed of down the motorway spitting furiously on my hand to try and cool it, and dumping, some what unsavourily that onto my face to try and cool that. Sadly the first marker post I reached indicated that I’d set off in the wrong direction, so I headed back the other way.
Fought with the car which had a bay full of coolant now; and got it to limp to the next emergency phone where I called for an ambulance and a recovery vehicle. The Highway Officers turned up first bringing with them much wanted water – which cooled my hand, and got rid of the retching from the coolant that had landed up in my mouth. The firebrigade were next with their (really very nice) tea-tree dressings (which soothed my hand and face a lot), and then streaking down the road – blue lights and sirens wailing, the ambulance.
I can’t thank the crews enough. I’m sure I was hardly the most appetising sight covered in flecks of brown coolant-and-rust-streaked water, saliva and such. Retching and constantly swilling my mouth with water and spitting it out.
But the thing I can say is that I was lucky. Very superficial burns to my face and left hand and superficial, if sore, burns to my right. The nurses got me oromorph; I hate morphine and can now say that oromorph does absolutely fuck-all for me. Then sent me off with Naproxen and CoDydramol. I’ve a whopping great dressing on my right hand. and my face feels like it’s sunburnt.
I will not be sad to see the back of that Viva.
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