Nojomo 11 in Nojomo 2014

The most terrifying moment of my life…

I don’t, as a general rule, get terrified. I’m a pretty damned rational person. To be terrified I would actually have to be in a terrifying situation, not a worrying one nor even scary but downright, out and out terrifying.

There are two that I can think of, on different sides of a scale.

In yesterday’s entry I mentioned that I don’t walk through fields of cows. I have walked through many fields of cows in my life until August 1999 when I was out cycling. I saw a short cut through a field, it was signposted as a right of way so I got off the bike and walked through the field. One cow broke off from the rest and headed diagonally towards me, looking to cut me off as I carried on. I didn’t want to run and encourage it to charge as I had a lot of field to cross still. As I almost reached the other side it picked up speed, galloping at me. I don’t remember how I got myself and my bike over the stile, just that it reared up on it’s back legs, only three feet from me.

With the fence between us, I turned to find the owner of the next field hadn’t respected the rules of country Rights of Way, allowing his crops and a huge quantity of nettles to grow across it.

Very angry cow v nettles = very stung legs!

The other. That was the midnight phone call and the terror which existed in what felt like a lifetime between being told that my parents had been in a car accident and finding out that my mum hadn’t made it.

The emotions afterwards cannot be described, but those few moments were pure terror of the unknown.

Last updated November 11, 2014