An Emergency Service's Christmas

Bang Bang

'T'was the night before Christmas and all through our town
Ambulances sat quietly-call volume was down.
Controllers and medics, without any calls
All settled all cosy within station walls.

The town grew silent as the night grew deep
My partner and I settled in for some sleep.
But no sooner dreaming in our beds were we,
When control awoke us, crying, "Code 1 Hurry! "

The call had come in for an RTA;
Some nutcase claimed he'd hit Santa's sleigh!
"Head trauma," we thought, as we gathered our gear,
"Or maybe a drunk driver - it's that time of year."

As we raced to the scene with our sirens and lights,
We hoped for the best, tonight of all nights.
We had no idea we were in for a surprise
And,on arrival, couldn't believe our own eyes.

I said to my partner, "This must be a trick!
That man in the ditch just can't be St. Nick!"
A smashed-up sleigh! Toys thrown far and near!
And off to the side, a group of reindeer!

The driver of the car, with a bump on his head
Was crying and told us he wished he was dead.
"Oh, why did I have that one extra beer?
Now I've killed Santa - no Christmas this year!"

By now we'd decided that this was too strange,
So we tried to call backup, but were out of range.
"No radio contact," to my partner I said,
"I'll check that one while you dress this one's head."

I approached the man in the ditch with great care.
He was dressed so oddly - he gave me a scare.
He wore a red suit and a strange kind of hat.
I thought to myself, "Who dresses like that?"

Then he opened his eyes and said, "Do not fear.
Just please help me up - I must catch my reindeer."
I said, "The reindeer are fine, but stay where you are.
You've taken a pretty hard hit from that car."

I didn't want to leave him, so I let out a holler:
"We're gonna need backboard, head blocks and collar!"
As we worked, the man cried, "No! Please don't strap me down.
I have toys to deliver all over town!

All the children tonight are depending on me
To get their presents under the Christmas tree."
"I'm sorry," I told him, as I shook my head sadly,
"You're going to the hospital - you've been hurt too badly."

He looked up at me and wiped away a tear
"Then you must bring the Christmas presents this year!"
"Visit every child's home in this town?" asked I.
"Sir, you must think I can make an ambulance fly!"

I thought I had made a serious blunder,
For his eyes grew steely, and his voice was like thunder.
"Now Dasher, now Dancer, now Prancer and Vixen,
Come Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen!

Hitch onto that ambo and take to the sky
For tonight, indeed, an ambulance will fly!"
I just shook my head as we loaded him in,
Then climbed in the cab and I just had to grin.

There were the reindeer, all in a row,
In front of the ambo as if ready to go.
"That's cute," I thought. "I'll just go around."
But then they took off and our wheels left the ground!

Away we went, up over the trees,
Sailing along as light as a breeze.
We touched down on rooftops, delivering toys,
Dropping gifts for good little girls and boys.

We stopped briefly in the hospital's ambulance bay
wheeled him to casualty - and hoped he'd stay.
"We'll call in a report later," we said on our way.
"This man's turned our ambulance into a sleigh!"

Then off we flew, all through the night,
Delivering toys till the dawn's first light.
Finally, at our station, we headed down,
Both of us happy to be on the ground.

Control was mad, but the more we explained,
The less they believed us and the more they complained.
So we sat in our quarters - boy, were we in trouble!
We turned on the news and perked up on the double.

As the tv crew interviewed people around town,
It seems that some very strange things had gone down.
Tyre tracks upon a rooftop were seen.
and children said, "This year, Santa wore green!"

I grinned at my partner and said, "tis no mystery!
This Christmas we will go down in EMS history!"



Happy Christmas from all Emergency Service personnel who are working this Christmas Day.

deadwood

Excellent.

donvito99

Wow!

timmywex

Ah yes, every year i read this, every year i love it!

Good luck to anyone working/on call over christmas, hopefully its a quiet one so ye can sneak home for a while

deadwood

deadwood wrote: »

Excellent.

Excellent cut and paste, so.:D

timmywex wrote: »

Ah yes, every year i read this, every year i love it!

deadwood

Eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun, and the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, 1897. The work of veteran newsman Francis Pharcellus Church has since become history's most reprinted newspaper editorial, appearing in part or whole in dozens of languages in books, movies, and other editorials, and on posters and stamps.

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Garda Siochana.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Garda Siochana?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age and Bebo. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds – which some people might see as an argument for the legalisation of some recreational drugs. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's, children's or indymedia, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with Deadwood, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Garda Siochana. They exist as certainly as love and generosity and devotion and breakfast rolls, and the motors forums obsession with unmarked cars, exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy...and the odd ticket. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Garda Siochana. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS or Copper Face Jacks or guards driving in the bus lane while rtdh's knuckles whiten on the steering wheel. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance, no freeflow to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal blue light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished for health and safety reasons.

Not believe in An Garda Siochana! You might as well not believe in Gougers, PULSE or Tetra! You might get your papa to hire GSOC to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch a Garda but even if they did not see a Garda coming down, what would that prove (although, when did that ever stop them, eh Karlitosway?)? Nobody sees Gardai outside Dublin, but that is no sign that there is no Guard. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see – like Deadwood running or pepper spray. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn (too easy)? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world, except a good solicitor.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but that'd be criminal damage, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart – not even Nog. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, loads of O.T. can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Garda Siochana! Thank God! they live, and they live forever..... well, about four years after retirement. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, they will continue to make glad the heart of childhood . . . and mortgage brokers everywhere.

FGR

Genuine Lol

eroo

Genius!!!!!!!

kerry4sam

Sincere Happy & Safe Christmas and New Year to all Emergency Service personnel everywhere.

Nollaig Shona gach duine, bì cùramach

djtechnics1210

Do Topaz do turkey and ham rolls on christmas day
What will we eat if they don't, god forbid we might have to cook on an late :eek:

FGR

It's going to be a sandwich and a gallon of Pepsi Max for me. The station's closed on the day so only myself and the observer will be on. The satellite better be working!

deadwood

djtechnics1210 wrote: »

Do Topaz do turkey and ham rolls on christmas day
What will we eat if they don't, god forbid we might have to cook on an late :eek:

Don't forget the hot-dog lattice. The pastry bits you drop rub nicely into uniform trousers/ car seats and put a nice shine on the slob vest!

djtechnics1210

24 hour Tesco for a xmas tv dinner.... yum yum

samhail

good one my first time seeing that.

Best of luck over the xmas guys !

Mint Sauce

ho ho ho

well done lad and lasses, keep up the good work, heres hoping it a quiet xmas for ye's

djtechnics1210

irish-stew wrote: »

ho ho ho

well done lad and lasses, keep up the good work, heres hoping it a quiet xmas for ye's

Heres hoping is right

arybvtcw0eolkf

Good poem, they're a little cheesy I guess but I usually send this one on this time of year.

We've one for soldiers too;

A Soldiers Poem...

TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS,
THEY LIVED ALL ALONE,
IN A ONE BEDROOM HOUSE MADE OF
PLASTER AND STONE.

I HAD COME DOWN THE CHIMNEY
WITH PRESENTS TO GIVE,
AND TO SEE JUST WHO
IN THIS HOME DID LIVE.

I LOOKED ALL ABOUT,
A STRANGE SIGHT I DID SEE,
NO TINSEL, NO PRESENTS,
NOT EVEN A TREE.

NO STOCKING BY MANTLE,
JUST BOOTS FILLED WITH SAND,
ON THE WALL HUNG PICTURES
OF FAR DISTANT LANDS.

WITH MEDALS AND BADGES,
AWARDS OF ALL KINDS,
A SOBER THOUGHT
CAME THROUGH MY MIND.

FOR THIS HOUSE WAS DIFFERENT,
IT WAS DARK AND DREARY,
I FOUND THE HOME OF A SOLDIER,
ONCE I COULD SEE CLEARLY.

THE SOLDIER LAY SLEEPING,
SILENT, ALONE,
CURLED UP ON THE FLOOR
IN THIS ONE BEDROOM HOME.

THE FACE WAS SO GENTLE,
THE ROOM IN SUCH DISORDER,
NOT HOW I PICTURED
A SOLDIER.

WAS THIS THE HERO
OF WHOM I'D JUST READ?
CURLED UP ON A PONCHO,
THE FLOOR FOR A BED?

I REALIZED THE FAMILIES
THAT I SAW THIS NIGHT,
OWED THEIR LIVES TO THESE SOLDIERS
WHO WERE WILLING TO FIGHT.

SOON ROUND THE WORLD,
THE CHILDREN WOULD PLAY,
AND GROWNUPS WOULD CELEBRATE
A BRIGHT CHRISTMAS DAY.

THEY ALL ENJOYED FREEDOM
EACH MONTH OF THE YEAR,
BECAUSE OF THE SOLDIERS,
LIKE THE ONE LYING HERE.

I COULDN'T HELP WONDER
HOW MANY LAY ALONE,
ON A COLD CHRISTMAS EVE
IN A LAND FAR FROM HOME.

THE VERY THOUGHT
BROUGHT A TEAR TO MY EYE,
I DROPPED TO MY KNEES
AND STARTED TO CRY.

THE SOLDIER AWAKENED
AND I HEARD A ROUGH VOICE,
"SANTA DON'T CRY,
THIS LIFE IS MY CHOICE;

I FIGHT FOR FREEDOM,
I DON'T ASK FOR MORE,
MY LIFE IS MY GOD,
MY COUNTRY, MY CORPS."

THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER
AND DRIFTED TO SLEEP,
I COULDN'T CONTROL IT,
I CONTINUED TO WEEP.

I KEPT WATCH FOR HOURS,
SO SILENT AND STILL
AND WE BOTH SHIVERED
FROM THE COLD NIGHT'S CHILL.

I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE
ON THAT COLD, DARK, NIGHT,
THIS GUARDIAN OF HONOR
SO WILLING TO FIGHT.

THEN THE SOLDIER ROLLED OVER,
WITH A VOICE SOFT AND PURE,
WHISPERED, "CARRY ON SANTA,
IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY, ALL IS SECURE."

ONE LOOK AT MY WATCH,
AND I KNEW HE WAS RIGHT.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS MY FRIEND,
AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT".

This year I'm at home with the family thank god. But I've spent plenty away on duty, including one Christmas in Lebanon away from the kids.