Offers one cannot refuse

Yesterday I went flying.

Unfortunately, it was not in an aeroplane.

I was bowling along with purpose to catch a bus into the centre of Edinburgh in order to do various jobs – shopping, browsing, go the cinema. I had a lovely day planned ahead of me.

But that was all potential and I did not notice what was immediately in front of me, namely the patch of ice on the pavement which sent me sprawling to the ground.

As I lay looking up at the sky thinking ‘I’m going to need some help here’, I could hear the gradual gathering of angels around me to provide just that.  Someone stopped their car and came over.  Other passers-by rescued my bags which had skittered off somewhere.  People asked me questions about whether I had banged my head (I hadn’t), whether I needed an ambulance (I didn’t) and how else they could help.

The first thing was to get me up – this I could not do on my own – I have an injured shoulder at the moment and the fall had wrenched it.  My helpers gathered round and gently righted me.  And then two couples accompanied me back home (it was only a few minutes away – remember I had only just set off out in the first place!).

Talk about the kindness of strangers.  I could not have been more grateful to them and I send them my continued thanks for their help.

As falls go, mine was a pretty good one, if you know what I mean:

• I did not break anything (bones, glasses etc) or seriously injury myself
• I managed to do it in a relatively convenient place (ie near home and where other people could help)
• It has made me be more alert to my surroundings hopefully to avoid something more serious in future

So what did I do at home for the rest of the day?  Well after feeding myself sugary things to help with the shock etc, I decided to bring the cinema to me if I could not go to it.  I have a couple of DVDs which have been on the shelf for years, but which I have not watched.

The main one was Mario Puzo’s The Godfather 1972.  It’s amazing really that I have now only just watched this classic and iconic film.  But I am so glad I did – what an amazing piece of cinema.

However, the juxtaposition of the story, and the sense of ‘keeping it in the family’ with the help I had received from neighbours only a few hours earlier seemed so stark.

Of course, we must have a little listen to the utterly famous themes from the film – music which everyone will probably know whether you have seen the film or not (that was certainly my position until yesterday).

Here is the theme song Speak Softly Love:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWqKPWO5T4o

And here is the haunting theme Godfather Waltz:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUUvgdjsIQk

Powerful stuff, huh?

But not as powerful as knowing that one’s neighbourhood is full of helping hands, rather than gangsters 🙂