Tales of the unexpected – including a painful accident

The unexpected can be pleasant, but – as we know this week – not always. How we respond to the unexpected in our lives and our careers says much about us.

American researchers are trying to teach AI (artificial intelligence) to cope with the meaningfully unexpected, to make it able to respond effectively to black swan events (like pandemics for example). 

Oscar Wilde could have been talking about boaters when he said expecting the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect. Life afloat, and as a freelance is in a large part about the unexpected. That ranges from weather to  work, from every day living to every lock we tackle.

Our week started very unexpectedly with a broken nose and two black eyes. A step above the engine bay, which has apparently been dodgy (as I leaned afterwards), decided it had had enough of me. As it gave way, the leg that was on it plummeted into the gap beneath, catapulting me forward and slamming my nose into our 85kg steel hatch cover. Step 0 : Hatch cover 1. Glasses 0 : Nose 0

Fortunately the engine was OK but the unexpected resulted in rather a lot of blood being left around the boat (and over Boatdog anxious to keep me company) until I got to the bathroom and could bleed into the basin and a cold face flannel. We are lucky to have a freezer section in our 12 volt fridge but meatballs, fish fingers or burgers didn’t appeal to press onto my rapidly expanding nose. Chopped parsley on the other hand proved invaluable. I lay with it pressed to my aching face as my head throbbed and the Skipper fixed the offending step. 

Eventually the bleeding stopped. Advice was that the crunch I heard and resulting swelling/bleeding indicates a broken nose but as long as it hadn’t gone out of alignment, I could breathe and it wasn’t continuing to bleed, there was nothing that could be done except employ time as a healer. The rainbow bruising has been an unexpected feature of the week as will the new glasses be too (current pair sort of superglued into a shape that stays on-ish in the meantime).

We’ve had the expected delights of Mardi Gras – we know not to toss pancakes too high on the boat (they leave marks on the ceiling) and Valentine’s Day – gorgeous flowers and a delicious meal out for all three of us! 

We’ve also trialled a new experience for us – car hire which had a very unexpected outcome. Skipper needs to be north west this week while Boatdog and I need to be east and both of us need to be involved in transporting things/people so public transport won’t work thistime. Car for one and car hire for the other it has to be. The unexpected outcome was when you hire the smallest car they have, and this us what turns up!

It’s resulted in unbridled unexpected joy for a certain 6 year old because not only is it a Jeep but better still –  it comes in Liverpool red. 

Work has been unexpectedly calm and straightforward this week and we’ve have unexpected joys in sunsets and visits from expectedly-ever-hungry swans.Whatever your coming week holds in store – I hope it is peppered at home and work with unexpected joy.