Headbangers of the world unite

As falls go, it wasn't a big one - just a tumble off a pushbike onto concrete a few yards from home on a quiet residential street.  The biggest immediate response was embarrassment - did anyone see?

After lying there a few secs, I picked up myself, then the bike, and went home.  Checked for injury - just a grazed knee and elbow.

After a few minutes, though, everything went fuzzy.  I wasn't sure who I was or where I lived, let alone what had just happened.  I vaguely remember a paramedic asking me questions, an ambulance arrived, and my wife and I were whisked off to A&E.  On the way, memories returned - though not (and still not) of the half-hour or so blank spot after the bump. 

Walked cautiously into A&E where some routine tests and checks were quickly done, all of it very reassuring.  There was a wait for the CT scan (others' need were greater than mine) but after a few hours all was declared OK, and we caught the bus home.

The lessons:

• Value the NHS - it's marvellous.  Don't let them kill it.

• Always wear a helmet, even for little low-traffic local trips.  It was by chance I'd had one on this time, and it took enough hammering in the fall enough to split the side.  If I'd not been wearing it, this would have been another, much darker, story, if it had been written at all.

Now, off to get a new one.....