Between You, Me and the Lamp
Post
Day 13: Is a home really the most dangerous place
From the moment we step
outside, we are on guard for potential accidents. Auto collisions, pedestrians
getting hit by moving vehicles, potholes, loose stones, stairs, falling objects
and more.
Some of these accidents, if
severe enough are published in a newspaper, an online site or they are even screened
on TV. But what about the accidents that happen at home? They do say that a home is the most dangerous place.
The Living Room
Quite by accident, we found a
Chippendale end table. It was a little too big for the intended spot, but the
color matched our existing furniture so well that I didn’t hesitate to buy it.
What a mistake that was. I can’t tell you how many times we stomped a toe against
one of its legs or banged a knee on one of the corners. In the end, beautiful as
the end table was, it had to go. For its replacement, we bought a round table.
It’s small enough not to pose a threat to our toes and its round edges are much
kinder to passing knees.
The Bathroom
When Margaret redecorated her bathroom, she went to Home Depot and chose
beautiful baby blue glossy tiles for her backsplash and floor. The salesman who
helped her mentioned that while this was a great choice for a backsplash, it
was far from ideal for a floor.
Because of the glossy finish, the floor would
become extremely slippery when wet. Margaret paid no attention, she loved the
baby blue tiles and to hell with the consequences.
It took exactly four days
for Margaret to slip and fall on her baby blue tiles and end up with a navy blue knee. She promptly had the baby blue floor replaced with non-slip
rough texture tiles.
The Kitchen
The most dangerous place in
any home is the kitchen.
Fed up with a nearly blunt
potato knife, Betty made her way to Canadian Tire and picked out a new knife.
Come lunchtime, Betty started peeling potatoes and subsequently slicing them in
half.
Unfortunately, Betty (used to putting effort in slicing a potato) put too
much oomph in her action slicing not only the potato but a section of her hand
between her thumb and index finger. Eighteen stitches later Betty came home and
threw the new knife in the trash. She told me that the attending doctor had
quite a laugh when she told him what had happened.
A doctor had quite a laugh
with me too. Yes, I had an accident in the kitchen too and the culprit was not
a slippery floor or a knife, it was a can of pineapple.
A can of pineapple you might
wonder. Indeed. Dieter and I had gone grocery shopping and when we came home we
started unpacking the bags. Dieter crouched in front of the fridge while I
placed items on top of the door. He reached for the items and placed them in
the fridge.
Everything went fine until I
placed a can of pineapple on the door. The can slipped off the door and landed with
its rim on my socked left foot. Jeez Louise, the pain … I can’t begin to tell
you how much pain that 500 ml can caused me.
When I was able to move, I
hobbled to the lounge where I fell in one of the chairs. When I removed my sock I
was greeted by a rather large bump on my left foot …
A few days later, the blood
in the bump spread to the rest of my foot and now my foot looked like this …
No bones were broken, but
walking was rather uncomfortable. In slippers mind you, because I couldn’t get
into any of my shoes.
On the upside, I didn’t need
a bone density test because this accident had proven that I have very strong
bones.
The Bedroom
Well, we won’t go there but
I’m sure quite a few accidents have happened there too. Not in my bedroom,
but in general.
