There's an old mill by the stream, Nellie Dean
Entry posted by GhostOfClayton
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I was involved in a very bad accident on Friday!
I was taking a group of 20 (plus myself, a representative of our local agent, and the driver) on a bus trip, using a private hire 'coach'. We were about 2 hours out of the city of Shimla (Himachal Pradesh, India), when the bus hit an ox cart and overturned.
I was one of the fortunate ones, coming through the incident unscathed, but it was immediately apparent that many of my group were far from OK. Luckily (if I can use that word) the driver and local agent were relatively unhurt, and so were able to assist. Also, I have to count my blessings that we were in a rare area of phone signal coverage, so the emergency services could be summoned, although we were sufficiently remote that the first ambulance wouldn't arrive for about an hour!
That done, a very quick triage confirmed my worst fears. Very few of the group were in as good shape as we three 'officials', and at least two were, sadly, fatalities (it sounds an inappropriately medical word as I type it.)
I could carry on telling you of this very unfortunate event, of how the fatality rate increased to four before the end of the day, and that three of the group had to be cut out of the wreckage of the bus, but at this point its only appropriate to tell you it was all part of an exercise for a "Crisis Response" course at my company's headquarters.
So, if anyone's having a bit of a crisis, get in touch. I'm trained to deal with it.
Green Energy
The above was perhaps an excuse to wax lyrical about my company's HQ. I don't visit often, but when I do, I always come away extremely enthused about the place. Their offices recently (2005) moved to an old water mill. Mentioned in the Domesday Book, it was milling flour up to 1911. The company refurbished it and, as part of the refurb, installed a new, modern mill-wheel allowing them to generate their own power. For the techies, when installed, it was the first (and may still be the only, I don't know) breastshot water wheel in the country to generate power.
But the best bit? I'm told it was the original mill that inspired the song "There's An Old Mill By The Stream, Nellie Dean."
Weekly Stuff
81 days until "The Eagle of the Ninth".
Asterix book of the week is Asterix & The Goths
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