When I share the mishaps my daughter has had recently with some of my colleagues over lunch the other day, one of my team members shared a spine-chilling story of a freak accident which happened to his fiancee not too long ago.

The story went like this:

She was walking on the pavement after knocking off from work one evening. While there was some sort of a construction site going around in the vicinity of her office, the area, in true Thai fashion had not been cordoned off. The manholes that stood along the pavement right outside the construction site  were sealed off – what looked like a hardened cement, with no warning, signs or anything surrounding them.

Without over-thinking and suspecting that anything could be wrong at all, she walked on one of the cemented manhole, and promptly fell through it. Nobody was in sight at the time she plunged in, and crying for help was a useless thing to do. Fortunately, she managed to use her arms just in time to stop herself from plunging further and with all her might, gathered all the strength that she had to get herself out of the hole.

Luck must have also been on her side, as a taxi soon stopped by in an otherwise empty street, just in time and helped to pull her up. He was kind enough to offer her a ride, as well as something to clean herself up.

She finally gathered herself and took a shot of herself post the scary aftermath of an almost certain death. My team member has kindly shared  his fiancee’s photo with me .

 

I cringed when I heard the story. It was a scary, scary thought, even scarier to discover that it had happened to someone I know. It further drums the message home further that the streets of Bangkok are far from safe. We really do have to be very  mindful of what is lurking beneath our feet. The above shot is a very scary reminder of the dangers Bangkok presents, and, I thought I’d post it up here just so you readers are aware how much worse it could have been.

I am again reminded of my personal habit of refusing to step onto anything that covers a manhole or whatever holes there are on the pavement. Doesn’t matter which country I happen to be in, if I see them, I avoid them like a plague. If it means I have to walk around them, I would gladly do it than succumb myself to walking over it. Those manholes can look as innocent as one of these shown below…but, given that this is Bangkok, my advise is, unless feeling suicidal,  never  try to push your luck.

Here is a useful site I came across a while back that highlights the dangers of Bangkok streets which I had covered in a separate posts about safety in Bangkok and Mind the manhole(s).

When I came home from work yesterday evening and asked our Nanny how things went at home for the day like I always do, she told me that there had been accident.

Perplexed and confused, I asked her what she meant by “an accident”  as I thought that the kids had seem normal –  I saw that they were being their usual noisy, bouncing-off-the-walls rambunctious selves. She then told me that Spud had a rather nasty fall when she left her in the living room as she had to put Squirt down for his nap and did not see what happened. Spud then walked towards me, smiling, flipped her hair from her face and showed me this:

My heart skipped several beats this time, and was on a full-on palpitation  especially since I was being reminded of the very nasty crash she had at the pool just a couple of days ago! When I asked Spud what happened, she told me as a matter-of-factly:

Spud: I fell!

Me: How did you fall?????

Spud: I jumped in the balls there, and then I jumped again very, very high. And then I fell, and  I hit myself on the box.

Me (sighing): Did you hurt your head?

Spud: No, I didn’t. Just here. (and pointed to the bruise near her eye)

Me: Did you cry?

Spud: Yes, I cried very hard. 

I sighed a big sigh as I examined yet another nasty-looking bruise on her face. Looking at the bruises she earned herself in a span of just a few days made me feel uneasy. I felt really horrible and uncomfortable looking at them, yet I know that it was all her doing of being a boisterous and high-spirited  little imp and that  there was nothing I could have done to prevent it. All I could do was to tell her again for the umpteenth time that she needs to be really careful and that I have my reasons for telling her  not to jump around or bouncing off the walls like a maniac because I do not want her to hurt herself. Unfortunately for her, like me, she bruises like a peach.

All I got as a response was, “Yes, Mama.” And then there she went bouncing off the walls again and chased her little brother around the house, as if nothing had happened. In a way, I felt relieved, as once again, she is showing good signs that she is OK. It doesn’t mean I have relaxed though! In fact, I have been watching her like a hawk these few days just to look for the slightest sign that would appear not-so-normal.

I have read that kids can be very resilient when it comes to falls, which means that I need to brace myself up for more falls to come. As a mother, I just hope they will not get any worse or more serious than this. To think that we have our house all child-proofed and that the birthday gift which we gave Squirt for his 2nd birthday is nothing but a safe toy that would cushion any fall. Obviously, we were quite wrong!

It suddenly dawned on me that not only does she  look like she has been abused with both sides of her face all bruised up now, but I am also convinced that we seem to actually have TWO boys instead of just one.

Story of my life.