Typical Friday night

Well thats another night shift nearly over. It was mainly a very quiet night apart from summut that happened just before midnight. Typical Friday night situation in any urban area I guess.

One of our lads asked me to call an ambulance because a young girl he knew was very drunk, shouting, collapsing and had hit her hand against a wall or something. In fact she had managed to get herself half way in the front door of the building. She seemed to be going in and out of consciousness, but was really quite abusive when I asked her anything. The ambulance came by and said her hand was ok (superficial cut knuckes) and that she was just very drunk. There was no way she was going to accept any help. The girl was in a right state with no shoes on and she had clearly wet herself too.

A big crowd of young people came by eventually. She had been drinking with them and it appeared she had had far too much vodka. They were all drinking in the street and were very loud. In the end, I persuaded our lad to come in because there was nothing more we could do for her. She disappeared somewhere else about 10 mins. later.

Its really sad to see all this. The girl was probably only about 16. I'm still wondering if she is OK now. Its not exactly warm now and its not as if she was waring any warm clothes. Still, I did what I could to try and help, but there was no way she was going to accept any help. The picture above pretty much depicts what she was like (without the sword of course).

Here is another scribble for today....

Smoking in the office

The shipping agents office I worked in during a year or so in the 1980’s was on the second floor right opposite Ramsgate harbour. We had view over the marina area from the window. The office comprised of 2 rooms. One with a telex machine in it and the other was the main office with 2 telephones, desks either side, four seats and a manual typewriter at each workstation. We had steel wastepaper bins that were about 2ft high (for some reason, but then scrapping documents was something we did frequently).

My boss Ray (whom I’ve written about before) was a fairly heavy smoker. Back in those days, there were far less restrictions on smoking, so there would be a haze in the office most days. One particular afternoon, I was working away at some shipping documentation that I have my full attention. Ray was on the phone to the area manager, leaning back in his leather “captains” chair tugging away at his cigarette and flicking ash in the waste paper bin (which really annoyed me). Whilst concentrating on my work, I heard an unusual clicking sound. I looked round at Ray and noticed yellow flames leaping out of the bin behind Ray’s head, no more than an inch or so away from his curly black hair. The bin was fully alight, but Ray was totally oblivious to this with the phone receiver glued to his ear.

“Ray, RAY!!!” I shouted.

He glanced at me with those accusing penetrating eyes, angry that I was interrupting his very important telephone call to his boss.

“RAY! YOU BIN IS ON FIRE!”. He looked round, panicked, and said, get a glass of water from the kitchen. Before he had finished this sentence, I had grabbed the C02 fire extinguisher, which he grabbed out of my hand and sprayed at the bin. This resulted in singed fragments of paper to fly up into the air and float down around us all over the little office. It put the fire out, fortunately, but we then spent the next 10 minutes clearing up the mess. Well, it didn’t put Ray off smoking, but I think he was a little more cautious afterwards when smoking. Why he wouldn’t use the ash tray, I’ll never know.

Comments

(10 total)

Hmmmmmmmmmm, Marty. I think you did all you could for the drunken girl, but I can't help thinking that she might have got herself even deeper into trouble. A young girl in that state is an easy target in the night ... Did her friends seem trustworthy or were she in reality on her own with strangers? Well, a difficult situation for you, Marty. Love, EC

Saturday 7 October 2006 - 09:13AM (CEST)

Isn't it horrible when a stranger affects your life and they won't even remember you in the morning.
Last week i was in bed about 01:30 and i heard screams from outside, it wasn't the usual drunken sat night scream, i really thought a woman was being attacked...rightly or wrongly i throw on my clothes and ran outside, a few other neighbours (id never met before) had also come outside, it turned out some girl called Lisa had finished with her boyfriend and he was following her up the road and she was screaming at him to leave her alone....she stormed off accepting no help in her drunken state and her b/f continued to follow he. I don't know how this story panned out because to be honest i really didn't know what else to do other than follow them home (that wasn't going to happen) but i spent the rest of the night thinking 'oh my god what if i read shes dead in the paper tomorrow', i know it sounds dramatic but these days with the binge drinking you just know the trouble these young girls can get into.xxx

Saturday 7 October 2006 - 09:36AM (CEST)

I guess you did everything you could for that young lady and drew the line when you needed to - and that doesn't stop the human being in you wondering what happened. You did good Marty. sleep sound.

hugs
steph

Saturday 7 October 2006 - 09:26AM (BST)

Marty the picture of that young girl is very disturbing indeed.

Saturday 7 October 2006 - 03:17AM (PDT)

My god Marty that blog brought quite a few horrible memories back to when my daughter was once drunk in the street and one day I may blog about it....Fortunately for her we got tipped off picked her up and took her to casualty. The youth of today are bored and have nothing else better to do than experiment with drink or drugs it is becoming a real problem. I do hope that the young girl was ok also You did what you could in the circumstance. I was surprised that the ambulance men didnt call the police though as they have the power to arrest on a sec 136 ( to detain for own safety or safety of others)...xxx

Saturday 7 October 2006 - 11:18AM (BST)

Wonderful song/vid, one of my favourites...It is such a pity youngesters feel the need to act in this fashion when it comes to alcohol. Most of us have been drunk at some time, but I see from the news clips on TV, the scenarios that go on in every major town and city most nights when the pubs close. Its sad that they simply don't realise the danger they are in and the long term abuse they are doing to their bodies, its not just in the UK that this occurs, Spain ahs a similar problem in the large towns and cities but not quite to the extent of the UK. I am suprised the ambulance crew didnt do something more though, in that condition she was a danger to herself, she could have easily passed out somewhere and choked on vomit, doesnt bear thinking about, very sad indeed that youngsters feel the need to behave in this way..

Saturday 7 October 2006 - 11:26AM (BST)

I guess this is the thing with me. I have a vivid imagination. I'm sure the girl would be ok, its juts that I wonder if something was to happen to her such as choking on vomit, I wonder how I'd feel about that. I heard on the radio news coming home this morning that there was a fair amount of trouble in Margate last night with some people ending up in hospital, so its no surprise the the ambulance service were a touch stretched. I guess they have to prioritise.

Saturday 7 October 2006 - 03:00PM (BST)

Your story takes me back to one New Years Eve...There was a lot of roudie shouting and singing in the street as usual around midnight....I looked out of my bedroom window as I was closing the curtains about to go to bed...and there was a man laid out in my front garden!...I thought this was a bit strange...but expected he would get up and be on his way shortly...But when I got up in the morning and opened the curtains he was still there!...I decided to put the kettle and make a cup of tea...and then go out and see if he was alright and maybe wanted a hot drink...only to find a moment later he had gone...and was quite happilly just walking down the road!

Saturday 7 October 2006 - 04:07PM (CEST)

Very saddening for that young girl....

Saturday 7 October 2006 - 08:19AM (PDT)

I am so surprised that the ambulance did not call for the police since it was obvious this was a minor.. locate parents and have them pick he up from the station.. public intox or something? You are right though, anything could have happened to her and I myself would have woried as well regardless if she wanted my assistance or not!

As far as the smoking boss.. what are the smoking laws there in public facilities, I really do not know.. and I am curious as to how they differ if they do to ours... your boss was lucky you did say something.. he would have not been so pleased had he caught his hair on fire or worse!
Great post!

Monday 9 October 2006 - 01:13AM (CDT)