RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31399, 19 June 1967, Page 24

RANDOM REMINDER

GREAT OAKS

Chain reaction is a phrase which seems to date from the first talk about atomic bombs, although it could easily have been used in describing the first really spectacular ' concertina car collision, or mother-in-law’s discovery that the fruit bowl she had presented at the last birthday was being used to hold sump oil. It was certainly a form of chain reaction which recently laid low a retired military gentleman. This hard-bitten veteran of the campaigns could no doubt handle men magnificently, but he was not too skilful as a carpenter. However, ho had to withdraw a

bent nail from a piece of wood and duly applied the claw of his hammer to it and pulled. It was reluctant to move, and he adopted the classic pose of the cartoon dentist When the nail gave way, so did he—straight over on his back and attached portions, the more yielding of which came into sudden contact with another nail, one which was sitting upright in a board on the floor. With the sort of wild shriek which used to turn cold the blood of the most stoic Fuzzy-Wuzzy, the retired soldier shot almost vertically into the air, and struck his head a very sharp blow on the low ceiling. In performing these two classic move-

ments—and showing in them an agility and suppleness unexpected in one of his years—he also twisted a foot. Next morning, the bruise on his forehead was spectacular, his other hurt less conspicuous but equally painful, and he could hardly walk. So down to the hospital he went, to have his sore foot examined. And while he was there, a piece of equipment fell on the injured foot. So what had been a sprain became a broken bone. It might be thought unkind to record these misadventures, but we are all sympathy. It’s exactly the sort of thing which is likely to happen to us.