If today was your last day...

"Each day's a gift and not a given right"

About 10 years ago, I worked with a young apprentice called Michael. Great guy, 21 handsome, six foot tall and built like a brick sh.. Well He was muscular :)  He was training to become an electrical engineer, but at night and weekends he was a "hobby bobby", A special constable in the police force. He took a lot of aggro for the police thing but he stuck with it and said one day he was going to be a policeman. And you know what, I believed him.

A few months later he came in and told me that he was leaving to become a full time policeman. We had a surprise party for him that weekend, his fiancee came along and we all got drunk and took the piss out of the new copper. Six months later he was dead. A motorbike accident.

"Would you live each moment like your last"

It hit me hard, very, very hard. A young guy with his whole life in front of him, family, friends, a woman that he proposed to a year earlier? What a fucking waste. It took me a while to get over it, but I did and it made me revaluate my life a little. It was pushed to the back of my mind, until yesterday.

"Leave old pictures in the past"

I left the gym and was heading home, just about to cross the road. I saw a white car slowly edge over the white line in the middle of the road. Not enough to be in the way of the cars on the other side of the road, but enough for the oncoming motorbike to be unable to get out of  the way. The next few minutes seemed to go by in slow motion. The bike hit the side of the car, the rider was catapulted over the bonnet, somersaulted through the air and landed several feet away on the road on the other side of the car.

I've done emergency first aid and the first thing we were taught was "Evaluate the area for danger before putting yourself in any situation" I took that in and will always remember it. Yep, that's right, I ran into the road like an idiot to get to the biker, causing an oncoming car to swerve and nearly caused another accident.

"Every second counts 'cos there's no second try"

 I reached the biker as he was trying to get his helmet off. I grabbed his hands and told him to keep it on. Neck injuries are a bastard, and can really fuck you up. Trust me on that one OK.  So I chatted to him to take his mind off the pain  and keep him company. We talked about his girlfriend (it was her birthday) what he did, football, girls, anything really just to keep him occupied. A little while later, the ambulance arrived and took him away. Then the police arrived and took me away. Witness statements and whatnot.

"Live it like you're never living twice"

Which brings me to today. I received a phone call about an hour ago from the police station. Someone related to the injured biker "Would like to talk to you"

"um yeah, Ok"

The phone was passed across and a deep voice came on the line. It was the young bikers Dad. He thanked me for staying with his son  and making sure he was OK until the ambulance arrived. He was a little emotional, but told me his son was going to be fine, just a broken leg. I will never forget that call as long as I live, nor the emotion in that man's voice.

So just incase you haven't realised it yet. Let me spell it out for you. This is it, you only get one shot at life. Make the best of it. It's not a rehearsal, it's the real thing. You can't get to 40 and suddenly decide you want to try it again. Enjoy your life, live every day like it's your last. Take chances and have fun. But whatever you do, enjoy it!

Lyrics from "If today was your last day" Nickelback.

Narnia.

2006 was a shitty year, had a few personal problems (not for blogging) and I had an accident which nearly put me in a wheelchair. But on the bright side, 2006 was when I first discovered a small area of woodland that I retreat to when I need to think, or relax or just enjoy the surroundings. Lately I find myself there a lot. A lot of it is to do with the wonderful weather we've been having, but mostly if I need to think or clear my head, this is just the place to do it. I've always thought of it as a "Bridge to Terrabithia" type of place, even has a rope swing across the stream! But Someone mentioned "Narnia" a while back and it sort of fitted.

The entrance to Narnia.

So today, I'm going to take you to Narnia, (Ok it's a small wood) a place that relaxes me, a place I continually return to and a place that a lot of friends have grown to love. I'll throw in a few pics for good measure, nothing stunning just pics of a wood, but it's special to me so what are you gonna do?

So here's the tour, "The tree stump", it's about half way in and a great place to stop for a rest. Watch out for the nettles though they can be a bitch. Spent a lot of time poking around here, amongst the dead wood and stuff. I'm not going to get too involved in poking, I don't know you that well and frankly it'd be rude of me.

This tree is dead, stripped of bark and all it's branches and stands out a mile. I've walked past here and seen kids playing cowboys and indians or maybe cowboys and space rangers? Who knows, kids have great imaginations. But adults have better imaginations, furry pink handcuffs anyone?

Blair witch project? Yep, I guess it might be a little scary here in the middle of the night. 

My place of solitude. It's so quiet here. I can sit for ages listening to the water as it moves or just watch the ripples. But what i usually do is sit on that rock on the other side of the pic and write. Yep, I'm really hardcore eh? I sit there and I write. Crap mostly, journal type stuff, but I like writing and what better place?

So there it is, I had a few more pics, but I wont bore you. The pics don't do it justice. It's quiet, peaceful and a wonderful place to escape to and I was bored so I blogged about it :P