... terrible hobbies

[kaberett]

Today we were not first competent responders at An Incident (ambulance had been called, first aid was being applied), but nonetheless it was clear that another couple of competent people Would Not Go Amiss, and thus instead of continuing with our intended itinerary of "getting some more keys cut" A provided backup first aid and I provided traffic management and, also, reassuring further passers by that We Had Things In Hand.

EXCEPT. That fairly early on! I had the realisation that we had:

1. a person lying on tarmac who was going to be lying on tarmac for a while yet, and
2. a charity shop about three doors up the road.

And thus it was that I asked A Helpful Concerned Citizen if they'd go into Mind and ask politely if they had any blankets or cushions they could lend us, and lo, the Helpful Fellow Citizen reappeared shortly afterwards and handed off Blanket and Cushion to the first aiders, to add to a jacket someone else had contributed.

We didn't manage to return the cushion, because it went into the ambulance with the patient, but when we returned the blanket the volunteers refused to let us pay for said item. Which, you know, on the one hand of course they did, and on the other, I have now sent a nice e-mail to Mind (... not naming the shop in question because even given all the givens I do not want to take the risk that headquarters might decide to be unexpectedly shitty about this) and we will be Making A Direct Financial Donation... after we've slept, probably.

This was more excitement than we had planned for the afternoon. We... have applied cake. We are also, still, an excellent team.

(There was a point after the police arrived but before the ambulance did at which I nipped back over to A to check if I was still most use on traffic or if he wanted to redeploy me. The Met were apparently extremely unconvinced that having me continue to do traffic management was of any value but were also willing to roll their eyes about an overenthusiastic civilian who wants to Do Things and Feel Helpful. I am not too good to have found it very satisfying that me stepping away from what I was doing for thirty seconds resulted in not one but two cars trying to turn into the road I'd been stopping people entering, such that the cops then had to manage them reversing back out, around a blind corner, into the one-way system that is the high street through the town centre.)