I woke on Saturday at Simon and Gemma's at around nine to the sound of Simon strumming on the acoustic guitar and blazing sunlight hitting me directly in the eyes (note to self, you really do need to close those curtains next time). Got up, showered, shaved then had (and rejected) a cup of tea which did not please me at all. I should have known there and then.
I spoke to Laura and arranged to head straight on down to Gloucester to meet her without popping home first. This meant not getting the Lichfield Trent Valley-Home line but the Stafford-Gloucester one. Of course when I was at Stafford station and had bought my ticket I called Laura to confirm and she was at our house waiting to surprise me and drive me back. A lovely surprise but a frustrating waste of forty quid on a ticket.
My amended plan was to get off the Stafford-Glos train at Brum, switch back onto the Lichfield TV line that I'd just avoided and meet Laura at the station from where we drive together to Gloucester. All very straightforward so far, but that would be to reckon without life's infinite capacity to throw a spanner off my head.
As I swapped trains I called Laura to confirm only to hear the dreaded words "I've had an accident". My first thought ran to car accident as Laura- being an excellent driver- does tend to take a few risks. It turned out that she'd managed to fall down a ladder into the loft and further to fall down the stairs head first on her back. Jesus Christ! Laura doesn't handle pain well and so this was tricky shit. I got the train and a connecting bus- quicker than a taxi from past experience- and arrived home to find Laura packing a case as if nothing had happened. She showed me a graze on her back and said that she had a bit of a headache but was otherwise fine.
With hindsight I have learned that not only does Laura make mountains out of molehills, she sometimes makes molehills out of mountains too!
I collected the items from the loft that she wanted, packed the car and we sent off down the M5 on the most terrifying car journey of my life. Pretty quickly it became apparent that Laura had been putting a brave face on her injuries so that I wouldn't take the car keys away from her. I thus endured a series of near-misses, rash judgments, several incidents of tailgating at over 100 miles per hour and a final stretch of driving on the wrong side of the road before arriving with knuckles so white that I could read my calcium levels.
We argued. About Laura's recklessness and her responsibilities to others. On top of the driving, it transpired that her ladder accident came because the stepladders were leaned against the wall rather than opened in the conventional way. Such is Laura's ambivalence about life as a result of her depression.
We ended the evening on good terms and I was awoken early on Sunday by Laura saying "I think I should go to hospital". The effects of her concussion had worsened and so we spent several hours (I think it was four) having her checked out.
The diagnosis was concussion (no shit) with minor damage to a vertebrae just below the neck and severe bruising. Had the damage been slightly higher, we could have been talking paralysis. She was a very, very lucky girl. Again.
Whatever guiding spirit shines over Laura has their work cut out, I can tell you.
