Bullets you've dodged, off the back of 'Biggest regret of your life?'

Thank Allah for poor marksmen.

I found the root cause of the corrupted matrix which resulted in having to reprogramme myself again. Almost like a full clean OS installation but much harder due to many corrupted files. Luckily, I still have a bit of time to fix it.

Nearly got killed by a truck while sleeping. Thank god for small dogs and their toileting habits.

If you're going to sleep rough, lorry parks are not the place.

Tree falling through my roof, wall and landing on my bed at 3am was a good one… thank goodness for leaving my phone in the kitchen or I’d have been flattened.

A little further back in time I should have been at Hillsborough on that fateful day, but at the last minute chose to go to Old Trafford. Mum and Dad didn’t know until we got home late that night, so they were having kittens.

Pretty much every time I drove a car in my late teens and early twenties. What a dickhead!

Turning down a job offer from Grimsby college.

Burns Day hurricane, 1990.  A flying, tumbling barn roof that literally brushed the top of my head and the sleeve of my coat. I hate to think what would have happened had I been walking six inches further to my right.

Also, there have been more than one Louise type near misses.

If you are going to go to a venue called the Hibernian Club in Fulham Broadway on the evening when the INLA/IRA had successfully killed the MP Airey Neave with a car bomb in the House of Commons car park, don't get so pissed that you don't notice everyone else on the huge dancefloor standing to attention with many making a salute whilst the band played what I quickly learnt was the Irish National Anthem.

This was my first venture as a naive 19 year old from Leeds on my own to London to stay with my room-mate from University for a few days during the Easter holidays. Mick came from an Irish family, lived in Shepherds Bush, and in the first two terms at Uni had established a reputation for his prodigious ability to drink. I'd been wandering around London during the afternoon before making my way to Shepherds Bush and had seen lot's of emergency vehicles, including several army Landrovers, bluelighting to an incident somewhere. At Mick's the TV news was on showing the aftermath of the bombing and the implication it had for our democracy. We set off out and picked up a couple of his school mates from their homes on the way to the first of several pubs. At one house the elder brother of Mick's mate was sat in front of the TV celebrating the bombing - apparently he was a 'supporter' of a certain nationalist organisation.

Several hours and even more pubs later we finished up at the aforementioned Hibernian Club where the merriment continued involving more booze and some fairly drunken dancing to the Irish band, until my slow realisation that everyone else was stood to attention, and me slurring to my mate "Mick what the F*** is happening" while I continued in my drunken dancing. Mick's mate's brother, and a couple of his friends (also apparently 'supporters' of a nationalist organisation) had joined us at the club, and suddenly realised the potentially serious implications of my 'disrespect' to the Irish National Anthem in front of a few hundred people of mainly Irish descent. Fortunately, they managed to all gather round me and hustle me out through the crowd to safety - it was a bit like a boxer being escorted into the ring surrounded by a bunch of heavies.

I was on the 7/7 bus the day before (same time) and in Hungerford in the morning of that dreadful day. That’ll do me for life.

2. I’ll call her Louise, a very hot tatooed milf/vixen who I turned down, it would have been fun, but never stick your wick in crazy as they say.

Do you still have her contact details?

Uh, asking for a friend.

Managed to avoid being blown up on 7/7 because I was hungover and late.

Managed to avoid being chopped up / driven into on London Bridge / Borough Market because I had to work late.

I wasn't allowed to join the RAF because I was a security risk.

Not much of a bullet dodge unless you knew there was literally a bullet/missile with your name on, or… you proved to be an security risk in later life? Or is there something more to the story?

7/7  I was heading home that night, so wouldn’t bike commute out to Uxbridge.  Got the Northern line to Kings Cross, changed to the Met out to Uxbridge.  By the time I got to Uxbridge there was already a commotion at the station with rumours of a power surge and they weren’t letting anyone in.

Got up to the office and the first BBC reports were coming in. Phoned mum to say I was ok.  Then thought “how the smeg to I get home?” as KGX was already shut down. Checked BMI and BA websites and the only flight I could get was LHR-MAN. Bought that quickly & left the office for the bus to LHR. An hour later I would have had to walk as the bus incident reports finally took out the bus network (there was a LOT of confusion).

My dad drove from Sunderland to Manchester to pick me up. Bless him

I had a bike wheel with me for my girlfriend. I had to go to WHSmiths in T1 and buy them out of brown paper  to wrap it before BMI would check it through.

My colleagues had to walk home. A team member who was going to the Petite France site was in an adjacent carriage on the train through Russel Square.

5h1t day.

Not much of a bullet dodge

Depends how you look at it.  I don't think I would have got on well in the forces.  The big clue was the fact that I was only a security risk if I wanted to be an Aircraft Technician.  Since I had a degree they said they would waive the security requirements if I agreed to become an officer instead.

I decided I might struggle with the lack of logic behind the rules.

Went and started working offshore instead.  Turns out I struggled with the lack of logic behind the rules there as well but at least I was getting paid a decent amount to put up with it.

Thanks to my work colleague Nobby who pushed me out of the way of the launched car that crashed down just where I'd been whilst walking in Morocco.

Also in Morocco the massive engineering lathe that spat the large heavy component out at the incorrect high speed that killed the operator I was stood next to.

The angry group of rock chuckers of El Jadida who wanted to lynch us for urinating in what turned out to be an unfinished religious building. The fastest a clapped out Clio has ever been driven.

I was on the 7/7 bus the day before (same time) and in Hungerford in the morning of that dreadful day. That’ll do me for life.

Not me but a girl I was at uni with.
She was on Flight 93 on 10th September...

A close one for me was setting off to work one morning, realising I'd forgotten my pass and having to go back to get it - maybe only a 30-60 second delay. Cycled off to work and as I got into the industrial estate that I had to ride through heard a massive bang just up the road. 30-60 seconds ride up the road and on the roundabout, a truck had overturned spilling it's load of metal recycling. I'd likely have been right under that if I hadn't had that slight delay at the start.

Neither are first hand, but quite close to home.

My Dad was in the merchant Navy as a young man, and left to settle down and start a family. His best mate from then stayed on ships for many years. He was rostered on the Herald of Free Enterprise but swapped shifts with a colleague and so was sat at home when the ship went over and his mate drowned. Only consolation is that the swap was at his colleague's request, so the 'should have been me' feeling was diluted somewhat.

My son's class from school made a trip to the HoC as part of their studies into citizenship and democracy. After the trip they were supposed have walk back to the south side of the river and catch the coach back to school, but because of the rain they decided to fetch the coach over to them on Parliament Sq. Shortly after they left, the terror attack happened with 6 killed and 50 injured.

Not me directly, but my grandfather was saved by his belt buckle in WW1 (Dublin).   It's still in the family.

The greenpeace boat I was invited on but turned down in favour of a proper job was arrested and the crew jailed in Murmansk.  I think only a very short time but even so I cannot imagine Murmansk jail is a very nice place

nothing dramatic or interesting.

but meeting and marrying my wife is my one life changing thing.

i had been locked away for a few month, and was deffo heading down a very destructive path in my life.

more time locked away was deffo on the cards.

i met my wife and my life changed full circle.

King's Cross fire.
At the time I was really pissed off that the train went right through the station.
Got home,saw the news 😲 😮

@fasthaggis My dad was through the station around 5 minutes before the fire took hold. Visiting mum in the National Hospital for Neurological Disease that evening and had a very lucky escape.

Sent home on 7 July from all my calls in the London area. Saw many, many ambulances heading down the A12 to provide extra cover for LAS who were otherwise engaged.

Driving up the M5 back from Cornwall in 2016. Some poor guy jumped off a motorway bridge and missed me by a couple of feet.

It didn't end well for him.

6ft to the right and it wouldn't have ended well for me and my family either.

Driving back around the edge of Grozny mid 90s after curfew with the lights out so wouldn't get spotted.  That still makes me twitch a little

7/7  I was heading home

I was staying on Gower Street where the bus exploded, made it to my meeting further down the street before they closed everything, thinking better shut in with colleagues than stuck in a hotel. Bit daft as I ended up walking to Kentish Town to stay with a mate. Knew it was a bomb having heard about five IRA ones explode, but never felt remotely at any personal risk. I guess I never do really. But there will have been a thousand or so people in a similar range.

Bullets I've dodged? Dunno. Impulse decision to take a year out of uni blew me a way off course, to multiple forks in the road. But who knows if you've dodged a bad outcome? What's the counterfactual?

Can't think of anything much for myself, but my grandmother was living in London during the Blitz with a new baby (my uncle) asleep in the cot upstairs. She had a bad feeling or premonition and brought him downstairs to be together with her. Shortly afterwards a stray bomb knocked down part of the roof, directly into the cot.

I was six seconds from being last man through the pothole in our through-and-off group ride. Sadly Ralph was last man. I could not save him. RIP 🙁

Charing Cross bomb, right platform, 15 mins earlier.

Charing Cross bomb, right platform, 15 mins earlier.

had the day off on the day of the Kings Cross fire, would been in the station at that time.

On a motorbike tour & swapped from being leader to tail end charlie, 1/2 mile later & a lorry coming the other way turned right in front of us, leader hit it head on.

I used to get the train home from Potters Bar from school. Had the points held on a few hours longer I (along with a lot of other schoolchildren) could have been stood on the platform the carriage slid into.

grandfather was saved by his belt buckle in WW1 (Dublin).

Eh? Didn’t think WW1 fighting reached Dublin (the Easter rising and subsequent independence struggle being something completely different)

and in answer to the OP; Joanne and her family.

Donna

Moved my wedding by a week as it was much cheaper so I was not on that Paddington bound train.

Moved my holiday by 3 weeks because it was much cheaper so I was not in the WTC on that day!

My granddad had a ticket for the Titanic apparently.

My big dodge was finding out that an ex had put pinholes in a stack of condoms I bought.   I never wanted kids and she knew that, but wanted to trap me.

Funny thing would have been that if I'd fallen into her trap then she'd have been creaming cash off me for the next 20 years.

Let's just say that dating from 35 onwards there've been a few women who were so keen on finding a potential baby father they prioritised that over just about everything else, including our compatibility as a couple.

1992 - just got off the train at London Bridge on the way to work.  Had just left the platform and was into the bull run that takes you to the cross passage when an IRA bomb went off.  Heard the whooomph then felt the shock wave go through me.  Got to the office and had a quiet gibber for a bit after that. Had I been on the back of the train (typical for me as I usually cut in fine to get to the station) and not the front I would have been a whole lot closer.

And this year, on holiday in The Bahamas and out on the paddle board when I see a storm brewing and approaching so high tail it back.  Just got out the water when there is a massive almost simultaneous lightning flash/thunder clap.  VHF starts squawking for the local volunteer fire rescue as a lightning strike has started a fire - about 20 yards from where I had been paddling about 5 minutes before.

Rounded a sharp corner driving, under rail bridge, to have car coming head on at high speed on my side of the road with police in pursuit. Just managed stop in time/ he swerved to own side, but needed pull over for few minutes as was shaking, sure was going to be hit.

In a previous life working in a newsroom on the day of the Admiral Duncan pub bombing.

It was the end of my shift, I was due to go home, the reports of the blast started coming in and my then girlfriend (now wife) was supposed to be meeting friends there for a drink. It was the days before ubiquitous mobile phones.

Being professional, writing copy, organising coverage, while all the while s***ting myself about her.

I was supposed to go off-shit at 8pm, worked until midnight ...got a call from the Mrs circa 11.30pm and she was oblivious to the whole thing. Her mates had cancelled the drinks and she'd gone to the cinema instead.

Through the years we've had a couple of things like that: I have PTSD from days like that in my previous life. Similar deal with the Paddington rail crash etc etc.

The thought of it all brings me undone these days. Hug your people close.

Launched 20 ft onto a muddy soft verge by a car wing mirror from behind that was absolutely destroyed. Other than bad right buttock bruising and a bit of a stiff neck both me and bike were OK.

1ft either way I doubt I'd be typing this - SMIDSY and must have been doing at least 50 probably 60.

There's been a few.

Near Cleveland Ohio in 1987 with a few mates, got approached by the cops as we were hanging out in a car park, although only chatting. They (locals) all took off in multiple directions, running through back gardens and jumping fences etc, so I did likewise. Only afterwards did I realise that the cops gave chase and shoot you with no questions if you run, but arrest you and invent some charges if you don't. 'murican cops, eh? Sheesh...

Walking the dogs with a mate circa 1990 during a storm, a bough on a tree came off and crashed down end-on about two feet from where we were walking. Embedded itself about 18" into the ground.

Climbed up a ladder to clip some cables to a purlin in a warehouse roof. Put my hand up onto the purlin to steady myself and found that exactly where I'd put it was a live junction box without the lid. Cue me getting a belt and falling about 30 feet. Luckily I was early 20s and so bounced.

Riding a Vespa along a mountain pass in Formentera with a girlfriend and rounded a corner too quickly, drifting onto the wrong side of the road. Met a lorry going the other way at approx 40mph and only just missed it by a few inches as I wrenched it back onto my side of the road. She thought it was hilarious as the adrenaline was pumping, absolutely terrified me.

Every time I drove a car between 17 and approx 30.

Coming back from Middlesex 7s in 'drag' makeup, as you do. Woke up on the Tube surrounded by some very hard-looking young men staring intently at me. Not sure why I didn't get mugged and beaten up, maybe they thought I was just too weird to bother. Sobered me up quickly.

Many close encounters with idiot drivers during group rides. On another day they'd have wiped us out.

Broke my neck a few years ago, fortunately it all healed up well, but the Dr made it clear how close to being permanently wheelchair-bound I'd been.

When I went to A&E (drove there after riding home with said broken neck!), they didn't spot the break and sent me home with a diagnosis of whiplash.  It was only a couple of days later after a consultant had checked over the weekends xrays that the break was spotted and I was called back in for the full halo-brace treatment.  If it hadn't been spotted it could have been a different story entirely...

Camping in Northern Australia behind a sign which I read in the morning: 'Sal****er crocodiles inhabit this area'

I was driving on the M1 the night of the Kegworth crash, I'd gone past about 10mins before. Mates waiting for me had seen it on the news and were relieved when I turned up in one piece.
Following a mate home from a gig, there was a crash round a bend just ahead and someone was out trying to slow traffic. My mate slowed, so did I - the road was completely blocked. I know that if I'd been the one in front I would have ignored the helpful chap and piled into the crash...

After a fun afternoon at the 'Boss des Bosses' in Chamonix in 1998 - bit of boardercross followed by on-hill beers and smokes - a friend suggested we skip the gondola queue to get down (it was a terrible snow year and the Grands Montets home run was broken) and cut into the Couloir Philippe instead. Shortly after navigating the avalanche barriers at the top I lost my heel edge and started careening down the couloir on my arse. Jammed my heel edge in hoping to stop myself and I ended up flipping over entirely and landing on my stomach, now going headfirst down the chute. At that point I knew I was dead... but somehow I managed to get my board into the snow and slow down and eventually flip over again and stop. VERY gingerly picked the rest of the way down. Massive ice burn on my face and neck afterwards... and I never ride with anything less than razor sharp edges now!

My dad provisionally booked a holiday to Corfu back in 1985. My mum then had to check with her boss if she could have the time off but she couldn’t, so we re-booked for the following week. If we’d got on that original British Airtours plane, we could have been amongst the 55 people killed as it crashed on take-off.

I was the third person to be admitted to my local hospital with COVID when it first kicked off. It was so early, and they were so new to it that I didn't even get oxygen for the first 72hrs. I got steadily worse to the point about 1 week in that I made a conscious decision to not go to sleep that night, as I was pretty sure I wouldn't wake up, I had nothing left in the tank.

Turned the corner that night but I was very lucky, I feel like I dodged a bullet.

@johndoh - that was 38yrs ago today

Broke my neck a few years ago, fortunately it all healed up well, but the Dr made it clear how close to being permanently wheelchair-bound I’d been.

When I went to A&E (drove there after riding home with said broken neck!), they didn’t spot the break and sent me home with a diagnosis of whiplash.  It was only a couple of days later after a consultant had checked over the weekends xrays that the break was spotted and I was called back in for the full halo-brace treatment.  If it hadn’t been spotted it could have been a different story entirely…

Same story, but I went round with mine for a few years, by which time the break had healed. Still had to have a fusion done because of a ruptured disc.

Some years later, I googled my name. I found a guy the same age as me (and same name obviously) who'd had the same injury as me in a MTB crash.

He was paralysed from the neck down. He died in 2019

https://tinyurl.com/3d6fzmha

Not so much a dodge as a direct hit as I (accidentally) rode my KTM Duke2 into an oncoming car, both doing 50mph and no one braked. I guess my main dodge was not going down and into the car, instead I went airborne and landed in a forest. My bike was snapped in two and the car had a 2' V in the front of it. Got a lift home on the back of a mates Fire blade & was a bit sore for a few months after.

Knew a bloke who slept in and missed a meeting in the twin towers...

My Uncle in WW2 at Arnhem saw a lad get shot in the head, who said " that was close" my uncle said closer than you think.... he had a bullet hole in his right hand temple and the hole on the otherside was the diameter of a tin can, apparently it just grazed the front of his brain.. medical officer stuffed cotton wool on both holes and put a bandage on it...

Me motorcycle near death experience by the truck load.

Me? Not so much. A few teenage escapades. Motorbike in my 20s.

My  grandfather used up all the family luck. He was in the Seaforth Highlanders TA when WW1 broke out. Volunteered for overseas duty.  Was in France by 12th October 1914 and survived on active service the rest of the war.  Worst injury was a training accident when someone dropped a live grenade. He had metal from that in him  until he died 50 years later.

His three brothers had less luck.

Oh if we can include grandparents...!

My grandfather was in the Navy during the war, stationed up in the North Atlantic. Signaller/radio guy.
Anyway, he got reassigned to something in the Med but for some reason (I forget what) he couldn't go and anyway it was a plum job moving from the North Atlantic to the Med so there was no shortage of volunteers to replace him.

The replacement guy got out to his new ship, it was torpedoed 2 days later. He didn't survive. 🙁

Dec 87- went to visit my Sis in Zaragoza (N Spain). After a loooong sloooow overnight train from Barcelona, arrived in the early hours and decided to get a taxi to my sister’s place rather then wake her & get her to drive over.

Had I chose the latter option we would have been going past a Guardia Civil barracks around the time ETA bombed it

Some of these remind me of conversation with a friend about near misses. She'd just missed the tsunami in Indonesia (Boxing Day 2004) by the skin of her nose... as she was on holiday there on Boxing Day 2003.

By that reckoning, I just missed out being wiped out during 9/11 as on that very day I was in Turkey and drank beer at a bar who had the twin towers on the beer mats.

I’ll call her Louise, a very hot tatooed milf/vixen who I turned down, it would have been fun, but never stick your wick in crazy as they say.

Remember... We only regret the things we didn't do, not the things we did. The things we did have shaped who we are!

That and ALWAYS, given the opportunity, stick your wick in crazy (assuming you are single of course)... It can be a hell of a lot of fun! Just don't let them find out where you live too soon. Always go to their place until you have established whether they're too crazy (in which case cut and run), or just the right side of the line (in which case put all the kitchen knives under lock and key before you welcome them in)...

With my advice in mind... It might not surprise you that most of the bullets I have dodged in life have been members of the opposite sex, and more than a little unhinged at times! I do have some interesting stories to tell though, and they were all fun whilst they lasted...

Other than that, dodged a bullet not buying a house 16yrs ago when I was working for my Dad at the time... He wanted me to have my own place and was willing to front me a deposit (to be paid back out of my earnings over the next few years, interest free to be fair). Of course it would have financially tied me to him for a long time, the market was about to downturn, and our relationship was about to go properly sour too... BIG bullet dodged there!

Travelling in Thailand in 2004. Few days before Christmas deciding whether to go Ko Phi Phi or Koh Phangan for Christmas, literally flipped a coin and chose the correct island to be on Boxing Day.

Often wonder what would’ve happened if it had landed on heads.

uncle was northern ireland back in the day , on guard duty one eve and his mate came by 10 mins before guard change to take next watch ,uncle went to bed woke up in morning to news his mate had been shot and killed whilst @ checkpoint , 10 mins into his shift .. literally did dodge a bullet there but succumbed to a foreigner driving wrong side of road many years later and sadly did not survive that one .. a m8 slept in on the 7/7 bombing and was  meant yo be sleeping in the hotel in the 2004 tsunami but went partying elsewhere ,  was days later we realised he was still alive , crashed his motorbike couple years back and was unconcious with tongue down the hatch ,  trainee doc walking by saved his ass , myself many near misses on road bikes and couple hits but still here , one day the  wrong place wrong time is goin to align just right .. 🙈💀

Was ran over by a car pulling out of a T junction, that wasn't tooo bad (dislocated shoulder), but the impact flung me onto the other side of the road where the oncoming car stopped with the front bonnet literally touching my helmet, maybe a foot more and my face would have been splatted by the tyre. Still shudder thinking about that one...

When I was 18 I met a girl on a night out, got her number and we agreed to meet up a couple days later. I didn't really remember what she looked like beyond that fact she had blue hair. So when I get to the bar I proceeded to chat to the blue haired girl there - who didn't have a clue who I was and when the girl that I meant to meet with turned up a minute later, she clocked my mistake, slapped me and walked out. A few years later I learnt through a mutual friend she went to prison for killing her ex's two dogs when they broke up!!

Often wonder what would’ve happened if it had landed on heads.

A friend of mine survived the boxing day tsunami as an 11 year old, she was there with her younger brothers and parents.

As far as i can tell both brothers died on that day and her mum killed herself three or four years later in hospital here. Quite obviously she doesn't speak about it to anyone but her therapist and a (little) to her boyfriend, her dad is effectively monosyllabic unless he's asked a direct question.

I jogged one morning through the Twin Towers Plaza a few weeks before 9/11.

A few relationships I ran from before they got serious (and was right), and one I slowly cultivated until it was right (this was the right thing to do).

Lots of dud cars that at the time I should have dodged BitD, but actually with hindsight taught me a lot that pays the bills today.

A couple bosses I should have punched in the mouth on month one, but didnt, I regret that.

Relationships, cars and jobs, you have to kiss a few frogs I guess.

I missed going in the RAF for my dream job at 17 (dreamed of since I was 10) by 11 days due to a pissed car driver putting me in hospital for almost six months, did I dodge a bullet there?

This year a neighbour, very fit, non smoker, skinny, collapsed while out running. If it happened somewhere quiet he was gone. He collapsed on the road  outside a golf club with passers by around who got the defib machine from the clubhouse and got him going. Good recovery made after blocked artery diagnosed and stent fitted.

(few years back) who was the forum member who had a piece of wood pierce the passenger side window screen and impale itself in the passenger seat on a particularly windy day on the A1?

Wife and I had some lovely posh nosh in the Windows on the World restaurant up WTC1 on a wet Monday night. Low cloud meant the views were hit and miss but the forecast for Tuesday was good, so we decided to return first thing in the morning to the Observation Deck of WTC2 before the place became mobbed with other tourists. Thought we'd round off Monday evening with a drinkie or two in the adjacent bar but ended up necking loads of cocktails until closing time. Woke up late on Tuesday morning to a developing hangover and loads of sirens passing our hotel at Times Square. Turned on the TV to see the North Tower had a plane shaped hole in it, sobered up very quickly and phoned to reassure my folks back in Scotland. Heard the 2nd plane go in while chatting to my dad. Pretty obvious at that point that it wasn't a freak accident. Regret not seeing the view on a clear day but it was quite a bullet to dodge.

I was a few hundred yds behind the Kegworth crash. Thankfully driving single file in roadworks, and already slow, when everything stopped

Not me, but I was driving the car… coming home from college, decided to drive as carefully as possible (no zooming out of junctions like teenagers do). Saw a box fly across the road, started to slow. Then I saw a person sliding sideways towards me. Turned out it was a girl on a moped, she had clipped a car and her top-box had come off (the box I saw) with her following. I emergency braked, she went under the car, things all very mangled. I got out and her head was inches from my front wheel. On any other day I could have been messing with cassettes, playing with the radio or whatever and not been concentrating enough and probably would have killed her.

I crossed the road this morning just 20s after a car whizzed past. If I hadn't stopped and looked I'd have been under it.

I also held a sharp knife by the handle rather than the blade. A lucky escape, I wrote it down in the Near Miss book.

If we can include grandfathers.....

My grandfather worked at Swan Hunters (ship builder on the Tyne) at the start of WW2.

Because of national service, he was assigned to a particular battalion, but had to stay at the shipyard building ships for the war.

His battalion got wiped out on D-Day, no one returned

(Technically would also include my father and me, who would never have existed)

Two close bus incidents.

1. Sitting at a T junction, I was about to go when suddenly I grabbed both brakes, and then the bus passed me. I dont know if i unco9nciously heard it and i didnt look anywhere other than straight ahead, but obviously something told me not to go.

Bus incident 2.

Over near the SECC in Glasgow there is two lanes, separated by a wide middle central reservation, paved etc,and for some reason the council have both lanes multi directional, even though its a quiet road.

I cross, coming from bells bridge(to those who know the route) bumped down onto the road, carefully looking right- road clear, meaning to cross both lanes, bump over the central paved reservation, and then across the two opposite lanes. Im just about to cross the white li9ne and looked up to see a bus immediately on my left, again the two handed brake lever death grip and could see the driver giving me one of those looks 😆 I'd no idea both sides were multi directional.

Did have a scary moment riding down Buchanan St in Glasgow about 2am. Many years ago when i was young, really fit and rode very fast.

Normally i would weave about, look for kerbs and small staircases to jump from but that night i went straight down the middle, at probably 25mph., nearing the bottom I noticed the council had recently installed large block granite seating benches, and they were black. didnt know they were there and hadn't seen them anyway given they blended in so well. Had a little heart flutter there, as I might normally in my weaving about rode right into one.

Or the day I rode into an extremely busy junction, ignoring the lights(I was young and carefree) only to find the reason Hope fit those little pad pin safety clips, as I'd forgotten to fit them and all my pads had left the bike at some point in the journey. Plastic pistons against steel rotors don't really make for braking efficiency 😆 suddenly finding you've no brakes with fast moving traffic coming from 4 directions is a bit of a heart stopper

Dodged a bullet?

Well I suppose I have. Well more 'slouched away from' a bullet. I was on a bus and it got shot at. The entry hole was about 4cm above my head and my decent slouch meant my head was low enough to not get hit. It made a bang, I had a bit of glass on me, but it was a cleanish hole, and there was an exit hole on the other side of the bus. The driver immediately stopped, but all the passengers shouted 'go!'. I didn't really know what had happened for a bit, then realised I had been very lucky.  I wasn't initially sure whether it was a bullet or not having limited experience, but it was a projectile that easily went straight through the bus, and wouldn't have been good for my head had I been sat upright. Had a few beers when I got home after that.

So slouching, yeah recommended .

walking waterfalls in northern thailand, 8 or 9 pools & waterfall steps up a valley, decided not to have a paddle in one half way up, a minute later the biggest tree made a cracking sound and fell over, landing in said pool..  an arms span width trunk and very tall

We were staying in a lodge in a camp in Cuba.  There was a central walkway through the camp with branches off at right angles to access each lodge.  The walkway and branches were poured concrete slabs on legs about 1 metre high to carry us over the undergrowth.  After an evening of mojitos and music in the central bar we returned to our lodge along the rather dimly lit walkway, but I had forgotten about the precise layout of the path and absent-mindedly cut the corner whereupon there followed a comedy step into fresh air and descent into the undergrowth, my body horizontal as i plunged.  Being a totally unexpected event, and somewhat over the driving limit I was totally relaxed as I hit the ground and suffered nothing more than bruised pride (and the hysterical laughter of Mrs BH).  The bit that keeps me awake is the thought my face and head must have missed the concrete slab forming the perpendicular access walkway to our lodge by millimetres.....

Often wonder what would’ve happened if it had landed on heads.

There but for the grace of dog.

The story of Metallica bassist Cliff Burton always sticks with me. They were on a tour bus and the front bunk was considered the premiere accommodation. Cliff and drummer Lars Ulrich argued over it and in the end they flipped a coin. Lars lost. A little while later the bus crashed and the penthouse suite turned into a raspberry jam factory. Imagine that, your entire fate - and someone else's - decided over a Harvey Dent moment.

and ALWAYS, given the opportunity, stick your wick in crazy (assuming you are single of course)… It can be a hell of a lot of fun!

In my admittedly somewhat limited experience I've found anecdotally that there is an inverse correlation between raw attractiveness and enthusiasm. Supermodel women who are more into themselves than anyone else just expect service and gratitude; the plainer ones and (oh my god) the 'alternative' ones are the ones who could suck a golf ball through a hosepipe. You want to be railed six ways from Sunday and leave the next morning thinking "I'm going to need some cream for that," go find yourself someone who looks like Bob Ross has thrown them face first into a fishing tackle box.

Few days before Christmas deciding whether to go Ko Phi Phi or Koh Phangan for Christmas, literally flipped a coin and chose the correct island to be on Boxing Day.

It's all a bit 'No Country for Old Men', that one. What's the most you've lost on the toss of a coin?

I crossed the road this morning just 20s after a car whizzed past. If I hadn’t stopped and looked I’d have been under it.

I also held a sharp knife by the handle rather than the blade. A lucky escape, I wrote it down in the Near Miss book.

On that basis, Jimmy Saville once jogged past me and said hello. I still shudder at what might have happened if I'd said hello in return.

Because of national service, he was assigned to a particular battalion, but had to stay at the shipyard building ships for the war.

His battalion got wiped out on D-Day, no one returned

There might be some confusion about unit sizes or casualty rates here but I don't remember reading about any whole battalion wiped  out on D Day and can't find anything on Google? (A fairly swift search and I'd be happy to be corrected.)

expatscot
Free Member
I was a few hundred yds behind the Kegworth crash. Thankfully driving single file in roadworks, and already slow, when everything stopped

Always wondered why that wasn't even more serious for those on the ground, that explains it.

Riding to school, car pulled out of a junctionw while I was absolutely flat out- with driver staring right at me, of course. Hit car doing something like 25, went over car, went through back window of parked car, had to be extracted out of parked car back through the smashed rear windscreen. Lots of cuts, barely even a bruise. Was told several times helmet saved my life- was not wearing a helmet. It's a strange thing to stand up after something like that and have bits of car pour off you while feeling absolutely fine. Bike was basically unscathed, but I hit the car that pulled out hard enough to break the windscreen and bent the door enough that it wouldn't open.

Jimmy Savile once jogged past me and said hello. I still shudder at what might have happened if I’d said hello in return.

My sister told me of an incident she had when she was about 11. On our own road a van pulled in and the side door opened(sliding) the driver was calling her over. She said there was a bloke driving and another in the rear. She declined to do so as she felt something was very wrong, and scarpered home.

I'd a similar incident aged 8 or 9 coming home from primary. Me and a couple of mates were larking about pushing each other into hedges and the like and some guy stopped his car and tried to drag me into it saying he was going to take me to the police station. I was hanging onto a hedge in a death grip and the mates shouting at him to leave me alone. He let go of me, got back into the the car and drove off. Neither my sister or myself informed our parents about these things, so makes you wonder how often such things occur and the kids just havent said anything.

Didn't elect to take any government mandated jib jabs over the past few years.
This I feel has greatly reduced my risk of dying from "suddenly."