30 Days – Day 25 – “Still alive”

The reason you believe you’re still alive today.

Dumb luck I suppose. I’ve not really had to overcome a huge number of trials to get here and I’ve never exactly been destitute. Where I live it’s the people that’ll kill you rather than the environment, and they’re relatively easy to avoid. We killed all the wolves centuries ago and the most dangerous species of snake hasn’t killed anyone in decades. No malaria or mosquitoes, just incredibly annoying midges, and the insects are shit. There wasn’t much of a circle of poverty to fall into so while I’ve got next to fuck all money myself, I have at least got a roof over my head and a pillow under it.

How I grew up without any broken bones I’ll never know. Kids at school used to come in plaster more than they did shoes from falling off of bikes or ruining an ankle with a mis-timed jump from a garage roof. I was encouraged to go and climb trees and the steep hills in the countryside. The only thing I ever heard about safety at rugby was to make sure I wore my gumshield. The pinkies on either hand are a bit fucked, and I did get kicked in the nose which I think broke it, plus I had the lobe of my ear torn a little bit, and obviously my lip split open and arse crack excavated, but other than that I’ve been fit as a fiddle. Nothing really life threatening.

Only been in one car crash, that was a bit rubbish and a lot less exciting than I thought it would be. To think my first car was a write-off with a gay collision when there was a lovely big embankment that I could’ve rolled it down instead. Might as well have done it in style after all. As I mentioned it’ll be people that land you in the hospital rather than dirty water or hippos, but as long as you don’t go looking for a fight or that you’d shy away from one it’s easy to lead a peaceful life.

What I’m trying to say is that Scotland isn’t the most dangerous place in the world, that’s how I’ve trundled on this long. I’ll ask for Burma in my next life for a little bit of variety.