We've all seen casualty haven't we? - well you may think we're being overly cautious here but on our boat shopping list is an AED.
You may remember, a while back the grim reaper paid us a very close visit thanks to our own stupidity. That experience (see carbon monoxide posting for full details) opened our eyes - perhaps for the first time, to how vulnerable we ALL ARE.
"Life" hangs in the balance and can be taken away with a seconds notice... it was difficult enough calling for help when we could give a rough address to the ambulance service but supposing either of us... or perhaps worse still, a visiting guest/family member/passing jogger suddenly collapsed with suspected heart difficulties in the middle of nowhere - it's one thing to be able to call for help ... quite another to be helpless whilst waiting for them to find us!
With this in mind, we've agreed to spend a substantial amount on an automatic defibrillator... the sort that will ONLY give a shock when one is needed and can be administrated by anyone.
I hope that by getting one of these on board 'Ellis' it will mean we never need one... and whilst I can think of far more pleasurable things to spend a thousand quid on I CAN'T think of anything that will give as much peace of mind... CALL me a worrier if you will - I suppose it's the control freak in me... always needing wanting to be prepared but I really don't want to be in the helpless position or watching someone die in front of me when, with a bit of planning, we could have done something - ANYTHING that might have saved them.
Having watched a few instructional videos on the subject, I've found the shortest - most useful one that might be 3 minutes well spent.
I like the fact they come with voice commands - that might keep you calm enough to follow if ever required.
Something ELSE that has occurred to us - probably as a result from living in and around older people, is that 9 times out of 10, if someone is going to be taken ill, it's going to be in the middle of the night.
With that also in mind, we've already got a gps device (a couple actually) so that we can note down our exact location at the end of each days cruising... and it's our plan to write down both the GPS coordinates AND road/bridge numbers in the ships log AS SOON AS WE SWITCH OFF THE ENGINE.
Please don't think we're willing things to happen but for the sake of a "30 second chore" each day - we can all sleep sounder in our beds.
Oh - btw,., When I finished work today, I called into Halfords to buy an exhaust bandage (the lexus has a bit of a blow on it and as I can't justify the money for a new one, decided to silence it the cheap way)... and who was in the queue in front of me but Darren Day - oh it's ok ... he didn't recognise me and make a fuss ;-) ... he was buying a bulb and new number plate for his car. Poor chap didn't look comfortable and had there not been a big queue, I might have said hello.... instead, I did what all good Brits do - pretended not to recognise him and carry on with my day as usual.
Darren - if you're reading this... ditch the cowboy boots... they're a bit too clompy!
Until next time...
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