The Eclectic Interweb

From this day forward let no one question the existence of “The Jinx”!!

This story is ridiculous… yet also painful so please bear in mind as you snigger, that I’m still feeling the effects. 🙂

To begin, the best place is usually the beginning. As some of you know both my kids are in the local Girl Guide unit. Since I take them to and fro and am male… I seem to get ‘involved’ a lot with whatever is happening there. Over the past while we’ve been slowly getting the hall upgraded because over the years it had become very run down.

Now some things I can and will do… others I know I’m not exactly au fait with so make no attempt to help fix. Even though I have some knowledge of building maintenance , it’s been a long time since I’ve done any and so have kept out of the construction parts of the upgrade. However *other* fathers have been mobilised to help and one is a plumber.

Part of the upgrade involves stripping out the old kitchen and toilet and replacing them with newer, more hygienic gear. This was done several months ago… well the stripping out part was anyway. Since then *no* work has been done on the hall at all and when the kids returned after their Xmas break… there was neither kitchen *nor* toilet.

Well you can’t have 30 – 60 kids in a hall and not have at least one or ten want to use the loo so something needs to be done quick smart.

We’ve tried contacting the guy who said he’d do the work and got not response at all. So, in desperation, I mobilised a nephew who is both staying with us *and* is a plumber, to help out.

Yesterday we went up to the hall to sort out what we needed and then went to Bunnings the local hardware superstore to select and buy gear ready for for him to install over the weekend.

We arrived at the store, had a look around and found what we needed. Discussed the requirements with the assistant who suggested we’d need to reinforce the floor a little first because it ‘flexes’  and that might cause the pan fixing to break. Still, to show commitment to the cause I decided I’d buy the toilet suite anyway and fix the floor as we went.

I walked over to the shelf where the assistant had pointed out the unit we’d selected and lifted it off the shelf to place on the trolley. That’s where it all went wrong.

Someone, somehow had decided it would be a good idea to remove the package sealing *from the bottom* and replace it on the shelf *the right way up*. The obvious result was that when I moved what looked like a sealed box off the shelf… the toilet bowl fell out.

Unfortunately my foot was directly underneath and before I had even worked out what was happening it landed on the nail of the big toe of my right foot… then shattered. Feeling a sharp pain I hopped out of the way and leaned on a shelf.

The pain wasn’t that intense straight away and I wasn’t sure if any damage had been done, but something made me decide to examine  my foot more closely so I quickly pulled off my shoe and sock (which was already getting wet and sticky).

Within seconds the floor was becoming  wet with blood as it streamed out around my toenail.

The staff gathered round and did some basic first aid suggesting I go to the doctor when I got home(!!!). I said thanks but I’m off to the hospital… I could have shattered the bone in my toe! Luckily the nephew and niece were with me so they drove me to the hospital where we arrived around 12:30 or so.

By 6:30 p.m. I’d been seen, been sent for x-ray, had it dressed… and was out the door! 🙂

As it turned out the bone *wasn’t* broken… or at least doesn’t seem to be… but the nail will almost certainly be lost eventually. Whether a new one will grow now the bed has been do badly damaged is anyone’s guess right now.

When I eventually got home I decided I’d had enough excitement for one day and following the doctors advice went of to lie down keeping the toe elevated to try to stop the bleeding since it was still weeping even while they dressed it.

I slept ok all things considered but this morning realised it was *still* bleeding so I wandered downstairs to renew the dressings.

I washed it in a TCP solution and took several photos ‘just in case’ (I’ll add photos to the blog later on) then renewed the dressings and put a sock on to increase the pressure slightly. I’ll leave well alone for now and check it tomorrow.

Of course this wrecks the ‘comeback’ I was making on the diet and exercise regime for at least the next week or so until I can put pressure on the toe again… and until I can get a *shoe* on again… which is an irritation having lost 3 kilos last week. Still, can’t do much about it now, it’s just annoying.

What is even *more* annoying is the lack of concern from Bunnings who not only didn’t make out any noticeable accident report… but have made *no* effort to contact me to establish my condition? Their lack of interest is interesting to say the least.

On the basis of their lack of concern I might just call a solicitor tomorrow to discuss options I might have to make a claim against them for negligence or something.

As I’ve said before about other situations, this sort of thing *could* happen to anyone… but why does it always have to happen to *me*?? The answer… well it’s the jinx of course!!! It’s just something I have to live with. Still, it all goes to make life more ‘interesting’ eh? 😀