On Friday I went Ice Skating with my year 6-8 boys small group. There were only about 5 of them so we fitted very nicely in the van. Once we got to the Ice Rink we ate a bit of dinner then headed off to skate.

We were there right at the beginning of the session, which I've never done before. I think that must be when all the hard core skaters get there because they all seemed to be really good. A lot better then me of my crew.

Skating was fun. I'm not sure why going in a circle on to thin pieces of metal is fun, but it is.

Once we'd been skating for an hour and a bit I got a feeling that something was going to happen to me, like I was going to fall over or something. Listening to my intuition (which sometimes pays off) I hopped off the ice to visit one of the boys who was sitting out because he had blisters from his boots. After a few minutes with him, I didn't feel like anything was going to happen any more, so I hopped back on the ice. I couldn't have gone more than about 5 meters before someone came flying round the corner and ran into me.

They hit me from behind which spun me around. Unfortunately my legs kept their momentum and came up from under me. I landed on the ice face first. I hit my chin, which caused to me to bite into my lip and knocked my front right tooth out of my mouth.

Of course I didn't know all this at the time. I got up saw blood on the ice, felt blood on my face and realised something was wrong. I could feel a hole in my lip so I got off the ice, found my hankie and put it on my lip. I went to find my boys to let them know that I was off to clean myself up. I went looking for the bathroom but by the time I got to the other side of the ring I was feeling a little lost and noticed that there was a lot more blood coming from my face than I could fix with a quick dab of the paper towel. I went to the skate hire man and he saw and gave me this worried look. "Go knock on the office door they'll look after you."

I went over to the office and lined up at the door behind some people wanting to buy cans of Coke (which I subsequently found out are $1.60, rather expensive if you ask me) but when the people in line saw me they gave me a look of horror and stepped to the side. I knocked on the door and the manager man let me into the office and sat me in a chair next to the water cooler. He was the only one in the office, so he seemed to be doing everything at once. He pulled out the first aid box, put on his rubber gloves and cleaned the blood off my arms and face. He threw out my hankie which was soaked in blood. I said "That was my best hankie."

He said "Oh, so you want me to get it back?"

And I said "No, it was a joke"

He got out some gauze to put on my chin, which I didn't even know was hurt. He whacked the gauze on and taped it too my face. At some stage during this I stuck my tongue through the hole where my tooth should have been and felt only lip. After a bit more examination with me tongue, and searching my mouth to make sure what I was feeling was right, I piped up and said "I think I lost my tooth." I can't remember how the man responded to that. He got me an ice pack and a drink of water, and gave some more gauze to dab at my lip to clean up the blood. We had a bit of a conversation about who I'm here with and he filled out a form with my name and address and phone number and stuff on it. I think so that they have my details if I decide to sue them. I won't sue them though, that'd be silly. Skating isn't exactly the sport you do thinking you're going to be completely safe. Plus I don't like the idea of suing people.

I sat in the office trying to figure out what I should be doing. Wondering if I would be able to drive people home, how I would look at the wedding I had to go to the next day with out a tooth, wondering how much blood I was drinking.

Over the course of my time in the office I had a conversation with the man about how I was happy this had happened because I didn't want to have to iron my shirt for my wedding the next day, and I asked what would happen to my tooth. He said no one would find it and it'd get sucked up by the machine. It was all very serious for him. I tried some more light hearted banter about lost teeth and rubbish bins, but he didn't seem too keen to enjoy the moment. I figure it's not every day you get to loose a tooth so why not enjoy it?

I got the guy to summons one of my boys to the office so he could call his Dad and get the Dad to drive us all home. He did this then was sent out of the office again. He and the boys then peeked through the office windows at me. I smiled am poked my tongue through my new tooth hole at them. And they made pained faces at me went "Awwwww!"

At some stage the DJ came into the office. I recognised him as a guy who I went to school with. We had a conversation about the old school days (Him: "What year did you finish?" Me: "2000" Him: "I was the year above you. I don't remember you.") and then he proceeded to tell me that he's never going ice skating if people end up like me but what a fearless skier he is. He was fun. It was good to have someone to make a joke or two with. Although I did like the office man.

When the Dad arrived I took off my skate and left them in the office, then got ready to go. We collected our stuff, I put on my shoes and was stared at by everyone I walked past. Probable because I had blood on my clothes, some gauze taped to my face, a bloody lip and I was holding an ice pack to me chin. Either that or they were admiring my fashion choices.

The Dad took us to the car, prayed for us then droves us home. As we were leaving the boys were talking about my injury. Someone made a joke to which another of them replied "Not funny guys, Tom's just got hurt" I turned around and told the boys to make as many jokes as they wanted, I wouldn't be offended.

As we drove home I rang my boss. He was very concerned about me, I told him the injury was from all the drugs I had taken before small group.

Once back at church I met some concerned mothers and got my photo taken. The Dad waited to drive me to a hospital while I went to my office to collect my gear. In the office I met Matt and Beck who offered to drive me to the Hospital themselves. I figured this was a better idea, as they didn't have kids at home to look after. I took them up on the offer and, thanking him I sent the Dad on his way. He was very good to me. We have good parents at my church.

On the way to hospital Beck took photos for the photo essay that I'll post soon while Matt made haste. It was fun trip. Really it was, I was quite enjoying the novelty of the situation and it had lots of opportunities for jokes. Plus when you're injured people are more likely to laugh out of sympathy.

We made it to the hospital after getting a little lost. We went to Royal Prince Alfred because it's close to my home. Plus I figured we could get on TV if they're still making RPH.

When I was waiting for the Triage I asked the Ambulance Officer sitting next to me if Napisan gets blood out of jeans. She didn't seem to know how you got blood out of clothes which I thought was odd seeing as I figure Ambulance people must get covered in blood regularly.

Once I got to talk the Triage man he told me that he lost his front two teeth three times in his life. He looked fine.

We were sent round to the Emergency Waiting Room where Matt, Beck and I were to spend the next 5 hours of our life. Time went relatively quickly seeing as all we had to do was watch late night TV, read old magazines and do their cross words.

In the waiting room we met a few interesting people. We met some girls in pink togas who brought in a drunk girl who couldn't walk. They were fun. When they were leaving one of them said "I hope your tooth gets better." I told her it probably wouldn't.

I went outside at one stage to send a message to Helen. While I was out the front I saw some people running of the road and shouting "Call triple-0". As they came closer I noticed one of them was holding his head and had blood all over him. He went into the emergency ward. As I went back inside I found him standing in a puddle of his blood being treated by an Ambulance dude and I heard him telling the Triage that just down the street someone had smashed a vodka bottle over his head.

At 3:30am we were taken in to see a doctor. A nurse cleaned me up a bit, then gave me a tetanus shot. The Doctor arrived, gave me some anesthetic and put 5 stitches in my chin. Then we were free to go home.

Matt and Beck drove me home. I did my teeth carefully then went to bed.

Thanks Matt and Beck.

I think I'll have to continue the weekend later. This has been rather long. Oh well. Well done for reading this far.



Just after I arrived back at church. As you can see the missing tooth makes me look that much hotter.