Saturday, July 13, 2013

Beware of tea cosies


This is Grandson today about to descend a chute, as we call it in Scotland but (I think) not in England, where it tends to be a slide. I've included the photo for aesthetic reasons, since the main subjects of this post are rather less photogenic.

You know those unlikely accident statistics in which one reads that (for example) in Britain last year there were 390 reported accidents involving tea cosies, another 288 in which the culprit was a picture frame and a further 125 incidents of injury by stationery? And you think: what on earth were those people doing?

Well, the day before yesterday I was hurt by my wardrobe. I'm putting it this way to make it sound less like my fault. The fact is that I kicked the wardrobe, hard, with my bare left foot. I didn't mean to; I was just bustling between it and the bed, intent on getting to the chair where my clothes were. "Did the wardrobe make a sudden move?" enquired Son-in-Law 1, when I told him about this. I have to admit that it didn't. I wish it had in fact sprung smartly backwards as I approached. Only one toe is very sore, but it's more incapacitating than you'd think, being unable to put one toe to the ground without pain.

More unusual, I thought, was the recent attack on me by Mr L's iPad. He was lying on his back on the sofa reading the news on his beloved tablet. Something of interest caught his attention and he beckoned me over. I lay down beside him, turned my head towards the iPad and he tilted it towards me. At least I assume that this was what he intended to do. What he actually did was to drop the iPad on the side of my face and snap off my crowned premolar.

Thus I have been having dental attention and have a tender mouth as well as a sore foot.

I told the dentist this tale, expecting a merry laugh, but he told me, very seriously, that this is a common experience. "You were lucky," he said. "Lots of people drop their iPads on their own faces when they're reading in bed, and they break their front teeth."

You have been warned.

I don't feel all that lucky.

I hope a third piece of luck isn't coming my way soon.

15 comments:

  1. Oh good grief, Isabelle! I am sorry, but will take note of what your dentist said since I am quite happy with both my front crowns and my iPad!

    Love the picture of G on the chute, happy memories of what seemed a HUGE slide in Pittencrief Park when I was small.

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  2. Ouch, poor you! I kicked my foot last year and it was sore and swollen for ages.....finally went to the doctor, and it was indeed broken. We call slides "slippery dips" in Australia.

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  3. You poor thing! IPads must be pretty heavy to do that. Perhaps they will run ads saying they pack quite a punch. I hope that the tooth is easily stuck back in place.
    And where I am from, we saw slides, slippery dips to me are larger curvy structures.

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  4. I am standing in the corner for 5 minutes cause I laughed! NOT at your plight really but at son's question. I am well warned - I will be careful of random laptop attacks.
    Ouch about the dental visit and I do know how sore toes can be. Take care my friend.

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  5. Have you broken the toe? If so it needs to be strapped to the next toe - it might help to do it anyway.

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  6. I'm so sorry that you were hurt twice. The IPad injury sounded surprising to me, but evidently it is not that rare according to your dentist. I don't have an IPad but two sons in law do, so I will be wary. I love all your photos of your grandson!

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  7. I had to go to casualty for the first time, two weeks ago. I had a lump the size of an egg (and I am not exagerating), from my head being hit by the bathroom floor!
    I took a spectacular tumble out of the shower, bringing the curtain, rail and rail fittings down around me, and landed, head down, very hard.
    Luckily, Husband was home, to take me to hospital.
    It must be the season for bumps!!

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  8. Anonymous3:36 pm

    My back door assaulted me a few years ago - my right big toenail is just now normal. I have never in my life felt anything so immediately painful as when the back door hit my toe, even when I've previously broken a toe.

    I don't have the strength to hold an iPad above my head and read, so that will never happen to me, but I did bite into a bagel once and break a tooth.

    Life is hard.

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  9. Ooh, sounds very painful. In my case it's injuries from sharp knives and naked flames these days (and no, I'm not part of a circus act).

    390 accidents involving tea cosies? What's that all about? I can only think people got them stuck on their heads.

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  10. You have my sympathy ! I've done the toe thing , too. Apart from the PAIN , not being able to get shoes on was so hampering .
    Still , having to sit with your foot up should lessen the chances of a third accident .

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  11. Well, chalk another one up for technology, eh? I bet no one ever broke their teeth reading a regular old book. 8-) Hope your hoof and mouth dis-ease is soon just a memory!

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  12. Ouch Isabelle! I hope you'll start to feel better. Clearly, you need to rest ALL day, with your feet up and someone by your side to wait on you, hand and er, foot. To attend to your every need!

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  13. My husband's big toe was attacked by a lawnmower. He wears proper shoes now when he cuts the grass.
    I hope you mend quickly. I blame variofocals for all my knocks and bangs.

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  14. You have been in the wars!

    Perhaps people were putting the tea cosies on their heads and dancing about and they slipped over...

    I've heard a number of people (men, mostly, evidently) are admitted to A&E with mishaps involving vacuum cleaners and their private parts. The convoluted excuses as to how these two elements came into such dangerous proximity have to be heard to be believed: 'I fell down the stairs naked and the vacuum cleaner was at the bottom switched on...' for example.

    Take care now.

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  15. If I were you Isabelle I'd take to my bed 'til this month is over!

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