Jocko
11-19-2007, 04:39
Hallo RFF!
I would so like to thank everyone who sent encouragement and support via thought, thread, e-mail and letter following my accident a few weeks ago.
The latter was extremely glamorous :) I was walking to the shower when my knee dislocated and I fell very awkwardly, fracturing my ankle. In a rare moment of respectability, I crawled back to my clothes, pulled on a top and called for an ambulance. The crew arrived within three minutes. Their extraordinary compassion, humour and efficiency was characteristic of the medical staff I encountered from then on.
We always claim that photography helps us to see, and I wish to heaven that I’d had an RF in the week I spent in hospital. It was like opening an encyclopaedia of human nature and sometimes I just sat making mind pictures.
Opposite my bed lay a very old man - a marvellously cheerful Liverpudlian navy veteran, who had served throughout the war on the last British battleships and bore illness and injury with extraordinary grace. Beside me lay a man who fought the ravages of 15 years of Parkinson’s and a recent fall with equal courage. It was a honour to be in their company. But - across the way was a low-grade sex offender under constant guard and supervision, attended by a succession of touchingly earnest young female social workers whom he treated to an unending torrent of sadistic filth. He had stubbed his toe, yet wangled two weeks in hospital and naturally did nothing but whine and complain. Such contrasts were - to say the least - instructive.
There was another story too. RFF member Lynn and I often photograph together, visiting north Norfolk, which we love. Lynn was due to arrive for such a a holiday, planned to begin just 48 hours after I fell over - which happened before I’d cleaned the bathroom! Well, Lynn most certainly arrived, transformed my house and looked after me in hospital and at home. Her kindness was indescribable and I literally cannot thank her enough - except perhaps by remaining upright in future :)
Those thanks extend to everyone here: The support and encouragement of so many RFF members across the world has been an enormous blessing. I am likely to remain in plaster and largly immobile until the new year, and find typing rather uncomfortable, but it is a joy to contribute once again to a forum in which members become real friends.
Thank you RFF!
Cheers, Ianr
I would so like to thank everyone who sent encouragement and support via thought, thread, e-mail and letter following my accident a few weeks ago.
The latter was extremely glamorous :) I was walking to the shower when my knee dislocated and I fell very awkwardly, fracturing my ankle. In a rare moment of respectability, I crawled back to my clothes, pulled on a top and called for an ambulance. The crew arrived within three minutes. Their extraordinary compassion, humour and efficiency was characteristic of the medical staff I encountered from then on.
We always claim that photography helps us to see, and I wish to heaven that I’d had an RF in the week I spent in hospital. It was like opening an encyclopaedia of human nature and sometimes I just sat making mind pictures.
Opposite my bed lay a very old man - a marvellously cheerful Liverpudlian navy veteran, who had served throughout the war on the last British battleships and bore illness and injury with extraordinary grace. Beside me lay a man who fought the ravages of 15 years of Parkinson’s and a recent fall with equal courage. It was a honour to be in their company. But - across the way was a low-grade sex offender under constant guard and supervision, attended by a succession of touchingly earnest young female social workers whom he treated to an unending torrent of sadistic filth. He had stubbed his toe, yet wangled two weeks in hospital and naturally did nothing but whine and complain. Such contrasts were - to say the least - instructive.
There was another story too. RFF member Lynn and I often photograph together, visiting north Norfolk, which we love. Lynn was due to arrive for such a a holiday, planned to begin just 48 hours after I fell over - which happened before I’d cleaned the bathroom! Well, Lynn most certainly arrived, transformed my house and looked after me in hospital and at home. Her kindness was indescribable and I literally cannot thank her enough - except perhaps by remaining upright in future :)
Those thanks extend to everyone here: The support and encouragement of so many RFF members across the world has been an enormous blessing. I am likely to remain in plaster and largly immobile until the new year, and find typing rather uncomfortable, but it is a joy to contribute once again to a forum in which members become real friends.
Thank you RFF!
Cheers, Ianr