Had a few close calls in my time , only one worth mentioning was during my first stint as a S/E W/C .
Big old council property with railing and nasty concrete steps to the basement , the railing was just that little bit far from the house wall to get clearance to foot a ladder safely , so religiously bike locked the ladder to the railing on every visit , never moved , however , on this occasion i left the lock in the car , i'll only be up there 2 mins i thought , i think i managed about 10 secs , felt the feet start to jump and held on for the ride !
I watched 2 big score lines muller the wall as i went , i then took down the hanging basket and proceeded towards my next stop , ladder hit the railing and began to upend , still holding the ladder like a limpit i then began my descent to the cellar headfirst , another 8 foot to go , head first , i landed in a big snotty heap into the corner of the stairwell , i was in exactly the same position but upside down and a little cramped , my only injury was a bruise to the knee , dont know what saved me that day , basket , railing , or the fact i kept hold of the ladder , i should be by rights of ladder lore..... DEAD
I was given another chance , i gave up soon after the fall only for a better paid job , when i came back to the game i still was on ladders and did well , i then jumped off a 3 foot drainpipe in a poor attempt at entertaining my parents and missus , i split the cartilage in my knee and was off for 6 weeks
That is the only reason i am now WFP (and wiser of course)
Rich
