The dangers of resuming work

This last week has been very busy and highly risky. It's September, the academic year has begun again and not only do I have to work more or less full-time, but everyone else is doing so too.

As a result, the traffic has been a nightmare. On Tuesday morning, I drove up from Zeeland to do my usual stint in Rotterdam and got stuck in a traffic jam that meant I spent an hour and a quarter doing a distance that I usually complete in roughly seven minutes. This of course made me short of time arriving, and so I hurried to get where I was going. In my haste, I twisted my ankle and fell heavily on my left hand, hurting it quite badly...well badly enough to make it look as if I had donned a boxing glove and was a right bruiser (excuse the pun)...but yes, the swelling and bruising were considerable.

What makes it worse is this is the third time I've fallen in the space of a week - a phenomenon I put down to the pressure of having to work again after such a wonderful lazy, cruising summer. Yep, I've decided work does not suit me and is far too hazardous. For example, the first of the three falls occurred when I was busy prepping for lessons on my laptop. I got up from the sofa, caught my toe on the charger cable, stumbled and fell. This did not do said toe much good and it swelled up to the proportions and colour of a juicy vienna sausage.

The consequence of course was that I had to wear flip flops (normal shoes refused to fit) when I cycled into town later the same day to buy some printer paper for producing those lessons on which I had been working when....well, you get the picture. Anyway, getting off my bike, I caught the heel of my sloppy sandal on the pedal and down I went again, sprawling and with the bike on top of me for added effect. Talk about the Battle of Wounded Toe...given that it was now the biggest, fattest thing on my foot, it got it again and now had black and blue added to its livid red colours.

It was for reasons of my poor embattled foot that I was also wearing sandals when I fell for the third time on my way to my class (see above if you've forgotten). Since this was 'proper' work and I needed to look presentable, I wore some wedge-heeled open sandals instead of my flip flops. Now I don't know about my fellow female readers, but I always thought wedge heels were somehow safer than normal high heels. As I lay spread-eagled on the pavement, where for two pins I'd have shut my eyes and had a kip (it seemed easier than getting up), I  realised I was probably wrong. And then again, ever since this incident, I've been hearing about how dangerous they are. Do you think it's true? I'm not sure.  In my case, though, I think it's work that's dangerous and I should definitely give it up for my own safety. Don't you agree? After all, now I have both a handicap and an impediment (sorry...awful puns I know).