Roadside Assistance

Lovely night out Friday with the girls.  Decided to expand my social life now Maia, Harris, Sameer and a few others have left. The Friday Girls - we go out on Friday nights for dinner and drinks. This coming Friday is 'Fuck Love Friday' in honour of Valentine's Day, and we had a lovely brunch at Heaven yesterday which lasted about two-and-a-half hours. 

Olivia, on the far right, is a member of the local animal rescue, WAG, and helped save Sen's life a few years back. We bumped into each other again recently at a party and realised we were both born at the same small hospital in Oxfordshire. What were the chances?

The weather here continues to be too much.

Went back to Bugesera to check on the piano there and had to negotiate some pretty impressive puddles. The wetlands were struggling to cope with all that water. The weather has been so bad that lightning has even been blamed for killing mountain gorillas.

Work has been good. This is my room at the ministry, where I deliver training very early on a Tuesday and Friday morning. Really good group of people and enjoying working with them.

Had the scare of a lifetime the other day. Was on my way to the swimming pool when I saw a man face-down in the road, in a puddle of drool. His flip-flops had been flung off his feet. I thought he'd been hit by a car and when I reached him I honestly thought he was dead. Was absolutely heart-stopping.

I watched him for a moment and saw he was breathing, but didn't want to move him in case he was seriously injured, so just stayed with him. Eventually, he moved and I managed to get him to the side of the road, where he explained that he'd had an epileptic seizure. 

The most disturbing part about this was that I was calling out for help, trying to wave down cars, and not a single one stopped. People just stared at me blankly and drove past. It was horrific. I was panicking, but trying desperately to appear calm so as not to scare people away - but it made no difference.

Because I was on my way to the pool, I didn't have my phone on me. Thankfully, a couple of young lads walked past and agreed to stay with him whilst I ran home to get my phone and call Emmy for a ride to the hospital. 

I took him to my doctor and had him checked out, then to the shops to buy him food. He appeared homeless and said he had two children and no job. He had a wad of epilepsy medication on him, but the doctor thought it might not be working because he wasn't eating properly. Hence the trip to the supermarket.

It was a hell of a shock.

When I posted about it on a local community forum, things got interesting. I posted about how angry I was that nobody stopped, and a whole load of people replied saying they'd had the exact same experience. Both finding a guy face-down on the road and that nobody stopped when they called for help.

It's looking more and more like the guy is doing it for food and money, though he must be extremely desperate to lie in the middle of oncoming traffic. He could easily get hit by a car - or someone who stops to help him could. Very dangerous idea. 

Still, I'd rather stop for a hoaxer than walk past someone who genuinely needed help. It's not the first time I've taken someone to the hospital and had people stand around staring, and I've experienced it myself when I was mugged in Cardiff, and nobody stopped to help. It's a global phenomenon. There's some interesting articles on why people don't help in an emergency (this and this). It's some seriously messed-up psychology.

My doctor is trying to follow up to find out who his doctor is, to confirm his situation so that we can treat it if genuine. If not, his days as a conman might be numbered now that so many people know his name and are alert to the issue. 

On the way to the hospital, we saw someone else who was having a bad day...

I eventually did manage to get to the pool, much later in the day than expected. I found someone who taught me butterfly and I'm trying to crawl without drowning. I'm a strong swimmer but only with breast/back/side stroke. Now I have an unlimited pool pass, I'm getting a bit bored and wanted to spice things up a bit. Butterfly is utterly exhausting, but I was surprised it isn't too difficult to get the hang of. The other thing that surprised me - and I'm feeling a bit smug about - there's a diving board there. Every time I go, I see men using it to perform pull-ups. I waited until the pool was really quiet, then had a go. I managed to lift myself right out of the water until my nose was above the board. It wasn't difficult. I think it's all that time tuning pianos. It's made me strong. 

I really love swimming. I never used to go because it's expensive, but with my new job I can afford a quarterly pool pass which works out pretty good. I like to go before work when I can. And the pool has showers, which is useful at the moment because there's been a lot of water and power outs during the rain. It's a bit inconvenient, but does allow me to use my old-fashioned kettle. I've been binge-watching Anne With an E lately, and it kind of goes with the genre.