What happens when you look out of the window...

I had a surreal experience today as I watched my neighbour accidentally run herself over with her own car. The handbrake slipped as she was closing the boot - instead of jumping out of the way, she tried to stop it rolling back down her steep driveway. The driver door was open, demolishing another neighbour’s fence as it careered backwards and pulling the door off its hinge. As she lost her footing, my neighbour disappeared beneath the car with a yelp. I found her covered in blood, wedged between the hedge and the wheel, though thankfully still conscious. Once cleaned up, it was clear that she had escaped with only minor cuts and bruises. I found myself in a strange kind of competition with another woman who had come to help, each trying to outdo the other in an attempt to be the most sympathetic and showing off our respective first-aid skills. “I won’t give you anything to eat or drink”, said the Good Samaritan with the authority of an A&E consultant, “in case you need to have stitches at the hospital”. Grrrrhh! I wanted to say that! In her shocked and confused state, my neighbour babbled on between bouts of shaking and crying. She revealed the comings and goings of neighbours, past and present, in the street - including a real life wife-swap. The Helpful Woman added her own story of the married lady who ran off with the man who came to fix her electric gates – they’re still not mended! When the neighbour’s son eventually arrived, he was more concerned about the car.