Then there WAS blood.....

A hot summer afternoon , bees (or whats left of them ) , humming , sounds of children etc , etc all the usual stuff , ...will I read this page of my book , or go back to sleep....inside to do some very light paper work.....not a care in the world......bending over the table , suddenly large drops , like the first , fat drops of a summer shower , except these are drops of blood.....I try to stop the bleeding , not to get blood on the paper work , or floor .....in comes my wonderful , wonderful , wife (www)....immediate panic , paper towels to the fore ......the other family females informed .....VHI nurse on phone...instructions ....''pinch nose....hold head back....for at least 15 mins,...phone calls of advice.from all sides....''I am not going to hospital on a Bank Holiday Saturday evening '',20 mins later still bleeding ''ring Doctor Walsh ''....''Dad I feel faint seeing all that blood'' (why is it , with my wonderful family that whenever my wife (www) feels cold... I...have to put my cardigan on.....and when ...I...have a severe nosebleed one of my daughters feels faint ?)...eventually the phone is pushed into my hand...it is Doctor Vincent Walsh...''Joe ...go into hospital ...NOW..'') ...yes..doctor..Ambulance comes , ''shall I bring the bag of paper towels to show the hospital how much blood you lost ?''..No I would imagine that the LAST thing a hospital A&E need on a Bank Holiday is yet another bag of bloody paper towels '' www joins me on board...granddaughter refuses to even LOOK at it ....on the way (dissappointed ...no bee...baw..) www answers ALL the questions that the ambulanceman asks ME , he is getting a bit frustrated...so I suggest that at the next corner he should push my loved one out the back door....apparently ambulancemen are not allowed to do that....blood pressure , and blood sugar levels taken in transit all , amazingly OK...I'm even more embarassed , arrive at busy A&E Blanchardstown...all the usual excitement , so familiar from TV programmes....seriously ill people looking on.....''Whats wrong with this patient ?.......er,.....a ...nosebleed ....more embarassment.......sitting on chair in A&E ,my everfaithful www having filled in all the paperwork....I am in the world of really ill people....as I sit there 5 Gardai arrive escorting a swearing , handcuffed , prisoner , who is very much the worse for wear....elderly woman occompanied only by her sad husband waiting , quietly and , patiently in a cubicle , a very young , very pregnant teenager , sneaking out for a smoke , old woman , with tubes sticking out of her ,surrounded by her giggling daughters ( ?) and joining in the fun....and all the time the professional carers (and include the cleaning profession in this ) busily carrying out their duties....I and my wife , who had now rejoined me , stayed as quiet as mice ...this was an eye opener....eventually after about 2 hours (the bleeding having long stopped ) I very quietly asked the A&E manager if I could go home....and so we did ....just before we left the Gardai came back past us with their prisoner , still in handcuffs , and still complaining...as he passed (and this was a man in his mid 30's)' we heard him say to the Garda 'I don't wan't to go there ...I want to go to my mother's....my REAL mother's......'' and therby hangs yet another tale...finally as we were outside trying to get a taxi , my wife met someone she knew (of course..) whose daughter had been admitted ....this woman told us that all the Gardai cars outside were there because a Garda with a young family had just been admitted , having died of a heart attack while on duty (no connection with the prisoner incident)..and his family had just arrived ......we don't know the half of it...