Off Road

Hello, dear reader!

My, but these are exciting times.

Not only is it Valentine’s day, not only has Tina, my wúnder-wifey, landed herself an amazing job, the first administrative throes of which are now firmly under way, but, on the way back from the latest chapter of the latter, we had an encounter that, immediately, I knew would frame today’s offering.

It involved myself, Tina, two strapping blokes, and a rather scared woman.

Hospital Corners
To set the scene we had been at Fieldhead Hospital, just opposite the site of the rather more well known (in these parts, at least) Pinderfields Hospital. Tina had been attending a meet ‘n’ greet morning for her new job, and I’d taken the opportunity to slink over the road for a fry up, some coffee, and a couple of hours of writing work.

So far, so what, right?

Well, soon after the laptop battery had packed up (leading me to buy Jon Ronson’s The Psychopath Test from the on-site WH Smith’s, and before you ask, no, I’m not…Clinically, at least). Tina trawled over to find me, I finished up my latest, overpriced Americano, and we started the drive back to Mirfield.

En route, at a part of the road which is flanked either side by bare fields, with only the most distant signs of civilization to be seen, we caught sight of a lady motorist, in obvious distress.

The Break Down
She was stood by her car which was pulled in by the side of the road, its nose in the slight ditch which lead to the short hedge dividing road from field, waving her hands, one of which held a mobile phone, frantically.

I don’t know what took over. There certainly wasn’t time for any conscious thought or deliberation. I simply pulled into the side of the road ahead of her car, and Tina, the superstar she is, dived out the door, raced over, and enveloped the sobbing woman in a giant hug.

It later turned out that the front axle of her car had broken, leading her to lose steering, and, with, I must say, admirable skill, veer her car to its present position. What followed was an exemplary display of human charity and nobility.

Helping Hands
While Tina helped the woman, who was suffering from a panic attack, to regain her senses and stop hyperventilating, she also managed to get onto the woman’s partner, who was trying to get aid in the form of some kind of tow truck. 

At this point there were two cars sitting immobile by the side of a narrow road, but a man who happened to be walking along said road intervened, first checking on the state of the woman and then, happy she was in capable hands, helping to direct traffic around the incident. As the promised tow truck and, later, an ambulance, appeared, this became more and more vital. For my part I couldn’t move from the driver’s seat, my wheelchair being in the boot, and my wife having her hands full with a frantic motorist. It’s fair to say I’ve felt more useful.

Another passing motorist, a worker for the council, got his work colleague to drop him off and also began helping out, helping Tina get the woman to the other side of the road where there was space (just) for her to sit down. A jacket was found to keep her warm, Tina and the man from the council kept her talking, and at some point, (I’m not sure when) an ambulance was called.

Safe In The Knowledge
The paramedics arrived with admirable speed, and as they got the woman into the back of the truck (look at me knowing all the jargon, anyone would think I was the proud step-father of a paramedic myself), and the man with the tow truck got hid jack under the car’s front, we decided that we (that is, Tina) had done all we could and left the scene, filled with the quiet satisfaction of a good deed done.

The only, ever so slightly regrettable thing is that Tina, while batting away the woman’s effusive thanks, didn’t get any contact details. It leaves us in the position of knowing we left her in safe hands but without the full and certain knowledge that all was okay after that.

But still, we did our bit. The lady in question might have been stranded there a while, getting more and more distressed as time went by had no-one stopped. We didn’t do it for bragging rights, or any kind of glory (he says in his blog), but it does leave at least me (and I’m sure Tina would essay the same, with the knowledge that on the day in question we did something worthwhile. We helped. We were a positive force in the world. If only in the most minor of ways.

It feels good to do good.


Until next time…


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Hey, there! If you enjoyed reading any of the above, why not take a look at some of my published work? Below you’ll find links to a number of short stories I’m lucky enough to have included in anthologies. I’d love to know what you think


New Tales Of Old


Death Ship


Pestilence: Drabbles 1


Reaperman: Drabbles 3


The Musketeers Vs Cthulhu


Eldritch Investigations