I live on the high street. It's busy, bustling and noisy all at once. I'm used 3am cahoots from kebab-eating drunks, the bass blaring from Kazbar, the gay bar just round the corner, and the constant hum of traffic passing by along with the occasional blaring siren.Despite the kerfuffle, to which I am near-deaf, I jumped from my seat mid-morning today when what I heard was a screech and dramatic crash on the street. Not good.
It was early hours and there was hardly any traffic on the street - but somehow a lorry managed to turn in front of a car, causing the driver to veer onto the sidewalk, hitting a post and a pedestrian in the meantime.
Within minutes there were people at the scene and 999 had been dialed. That was a relief, because I forget how to do CPR and I was please the bystander effect hadn't taken place - perhaps because there were so few people on the streets at that hour.
I peered down from my roof to find two bodies on the pavement, on either side of the building I live on. The windshield of the small black car had been smashed on the drivers side, and he lay on the ground moaning, motionless. Initially, the situation looked grim - but soon as the paramedics arrived, I could tell the victims were not in critical condition by their response. They treated the patients on the spot, checking for internal injury and then administering anaesthetics in order to move them to the hospital.
I watched reluctantly, knowing that my position only a few feet above the scene was rather intimate. (And I felt like the paparazzi taking this picture.) I could hear the conversation between paramedics and police, sharing details, giving instruction. I watched one NHS staff cut the trousers and shirt off of the pedestrian woman so that he could check for visceral injuries and strap her onto a cot.
It frightened me and appeased my fear at once. Although the police appeared to be rather disorganized, the medics were clearly in control of the situation, telling the officers what they needed and cooperating amongst themselves to help the victims. Still, it was an alarming start to the day - and I hope the outcome is good.
I walked out of my flat later this afternoon, a saw spattered blood on the ground that looked like ketchup. Had I not witnessed the accident, I could easily have mistaken this for a condiment. It's amazing how our lives carry on when we have only a proxy or partial awareness of what is around us, what is happening in the wider world and just around the corner, while for others the day is halted abruptly, unexpectedly - and life is turned around.
