: : : May 01, 2002 : : : 5:47 PM : : :

Ack! There was a freak accident next door. I came home from work and noticed an anbulance and a firetruck in front of the neighbour's lot.

The house was a big rubble because they were tearing it down with a bulldozer. A saw a small group of people and the son, but not the dad. I started to freak, thinking that he had a heart attack while working (I was especially freaking out because he is a friend of my parents and my former landlord). I asked one of the older kids that was skateboarding in the alley what happened. I didn't want to approach the son first to ask in case it was something really bad. The boy said that the guy's leg is broken. The kid's family lives across the alley from me and knows the man too.

The kid's mom saw what happened. According to her, the dad was on the edge of the lot and told the man in the bulldozer to stop so he could save the railing. The man in the bulldozer then backed off a bit, but the railing caught on to it, swung out and hit the guy in the leg below the knee. Yikes. Apparently it all happened so fast.

Fortunately it wasn't too bad of a break. The bone wasn't sticking out. The guy is so strong. One of the paramedics said that he was totally calm - he wasn't crying or screaming or moaning or anything (he was actually joking around a bit). Yeesh, if it was me, I would probably be saying every curse word under the sun and yelling at people. That's what I figure since I have never broken anything (*knocks on wood*), but based on past experiences of hurting myself, I have told my sister to "shut up" while I was dealing with the pain.

Anyway, the bulldozer man felt so bad. He has done this job for over ten years and has never had an accident. The kid's mom and I offered him water/tea/juice but he said he was alright.

So the building of the new house will be put on hold for a few weeks at least.