What's the best lucky escape you've ever had

Shreko that's terrifying! Reminds me of something similar that happened to me years ago in Spain..I think I was around 14 and was at a social club (one of those daytime ones with the big pool and You could buy lunch etc) and my friend and I got chatting to these two men who were probably in their twenties. Anyway we thought they were the business and we felt all grown up and excited when they offered to drive us to crazy golf only when we were in the car I realised how stupid we both were so I started asking them to pull over but they wouldn't. This went on for a minute or two and eventually I just panicked and opened my door and started shouting I was going to jump out even if they didn't stop. Teh driver freaked and skidded to a halt and we both got out. Like that not sure if I was over reacting or if it was a lucky escape!

A Lamb Named Miltiades! wrote: »

I wish I had your christian disposition. A bloke sold me a rolled up bit of plastic masquerading as hashish once on a northbound dart, and to this day I scan the crowds at Connolly Station for his miserable little face. I was this close to going to the guards (makes gesture showing smallness) only that my friend talked me out of it. It wasnt the money (well it was the money too) but the disappointment that someone would do that.

Sorry to hear what happened to you, which is obviously no joke. I know you're not after retribution, but those crimes that inflict fear in members of the public are especially obnoxious. They cause us to be suspicious of each other, and to expect the worst from strangers approaching us in the street. Glad to see you have overcome that instinct and can forgive them.

Hahaha, yea that happened to me before, a ten spot of a bark tree wrapped in tinfoil, only a tenner so mmmhhhh feck it I'm not running back for that.

The crazy stories I could tell of my teenage years from 12 - 21/22 would make a great book, problem is nobody would believe them, I still find it hard to believe, I got hooked on Benzo's when I was 16/17ish, thankfully I have it under control, mainly thanks to some great doctors.

Thanks, yea was very scary, and yes of course I don't believe people who do crimes like that should go unpunished, but I'd like to see more effort put into crime prevention rather than just simple punishment and that way society benefits. I mean I seen people self implode over carrying hatred & grudges around with them which turned into out & out feuds, which progressively became worse from fist fights to acid ambushes to baseball bats & stabbings, and the people involved could not tell you what they started over. And now all those people I grew up with a lot either killed themselves including my cousin who was like a little brother, a lot more went to jail & more are on Heroin. Very sad to look back on & thinking could you have done more to help, that's why

It's not easy forgiveness I didn't have a road to Damascus conversion it was a slow process & learning curve, I was always interested in the politics of the North and Republicanism from a young age but once it became clear Gerry & Marty were bull****ers with the worlds worst kept secret I started moving to more left-wing anti-sectarian politics I liked people like Bernadette Devlin`& Eamonn McCann, & I hated the Anglophobia that manifested itself at numerous times in the Republican movement because I had a deep-seated respect for people like Gareth Pierce & Alastair Logan who were helping the Guildford & Birmingham hostages and also Labour people like Tony Benn & Ken Livingstone who brought up unpopular opinions about Ireland in the House of Commons at their own political expense, politicians putting their principals ahead of their political career was something new as that never happened with Fianna Fail or the other clowns in the Dail, although I have to say David Norris in the Senate gave one of the most amazing speeches on the plight of the Palestinians I've ever heard.

Anyway to wrap this up, I read a book called "Manufacturing Consent" and it blew me away, I was hooked straight away in this tradition of the Jewish radical left and from Chomsky I also fell in love with the works of Norman Finkelstein and the respect they had for human life & human dignity shone through in all their work. But the most important thing I read was Chomsky's essay on intellectuals response to the Vietnam war called "The Responsibility of Intellectuals" this review by Professor of Philosophy Emeritus Raziel Abielson sums it up very well

Chomsky's morally impassioned and powerfully argued denunciation of American aggression in Vietnam and throughout the world is the most moving political document I have read since the death of Leon Trotsky. It is inspiring to see a brilliant scientist risk his prestige, his access to lucrative government grants, and his reputation for Olympian objectivity by taking a clearcut, no-holds-barred, adversary position on the burning moral-political issue of the day. ...

I agree it was very moving & inspiring, Chomsky could have been living the high life but he gave all that up to fight for what he believed in mainly the dignity of all human life. When he's referring to the problems of working class areas in the US he could be easily talking about urban working class estates in Dublin.
This response to a question very much summed up the fear I felt being held at syringe point...

I grew up with anti-Semitism in the United States. We were the only Jewish family in a mostly Irish- and German-Catholic neighborhood, which was very anti-Semitic and pretty pro-Nazi. For a young boy in the streets, you got to know what that meant.

He elaborated on it in a interview saying how he was frozen with fear when he had to walk in the street and he was attacked & how it led him to have a irrational fear of Irish Catholics for years after, which he said was obviously stupid and he got over it. But the way he articulated the fear was something I very much understood when get mugged down a dark alley and he easily could of stab us, but I got over it and when I forgave him in my heart it felt like a huge weight lifted of my shoulders and bitterness & a confused anger was gone. And then a year or two later I found out

Whether it’s a simple spat with your spouse or long-held resentment toward a family member or friend, unresolved conflict can go deeper than you may realize—it may be affecting your physical health. The good news: Studies have found that the act of forgiveness can reap huge rewards for your health, lowering the risk of heart attack; improving cholesterol levels and sleep; and reducing pain, blood pressure, and levels of anxiety, depression and stress. And research points to an increase in the forgiveness-health connection as you age.

Forgiveness is not just about saying the words. “It is an active process in which you make a conscious decision to let go of negative feelings whether the person deserves it or not,” Swartz says. As you release the anger, resentment and hostility, you begin to feel empathy, compassion and sometimes even affection for the person who wronged you.

And that all goes back to what I was saying about unresolved feuds turning in to all out physical hostility.

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/forgiveness-your-health-depends-on-it

So start running around and start forgiving all the people you hate.

In nyc working on a 3 man job. Was supposed to wrap up monday and go to the wtc to start a job on Tuesday. One of the lads ( foreman) missed the Monday so we were a day late.
That was 2001, needless to say what happened that Tuesday!!!

In my head this was a lucky escape, it was the most I have ever been afraid driving before or since.

Going along a motorway/dual carriageway fast through an overpass down the country somewhere - road was fairly straight from what I remember.

There was an complete eejit half 'pulled in parked' hidden in the overpass - parked behind the wall part of the overpass blocking the road. And on the bleeding phone!
Basically like a mini tunnel with an eejit parked near enough in the middle of it.

No course of action but to slow very abruptly. And take evasive manoeuvres to avoid her car. I remember literally saying 'this is it'. And hoping either the white van behind me is a good driver/has good brakes or I am f**cked.
Hoping that the driver behind has good observation and anticipation.

Thankfully it was uneventful nothing happened. Only for me beeping non-stop in anger and panic.

Really annoying part is yer wan parked and on the phone was probably oblivious, that it could have been one of those pile ups you hear on the news.

KathleenGrant wrote: »

Wow......that is unbelievable.:eek:

True story. I owe it all to a girl from Armagh, who kept the foreman 'occupied ' that Sunday night!

A few years ago I was in a relationship with a guy who just brought nothing to the table. I know hindsight is 20 20 and all that, but I look back and think it must have been madness. He was about 15 years older than me and was separated with two kids. His ex refused to work, and one of his kids had additional needs so he was essentially crippled for maintenance. Out of 4k net, he was left with 750 a month for himself.

This meant he had to basically lodge rent free with me, and he tried to move his kids in even though we were in a one bed, and we often didn't have money to go out, holidays were out of the question, although he insisted on dragging me to dirty festivals! He was fond of the drink and a chain smoker too. Also had a very unhealthy diet and was just a very angry person. He lost his job shortly before we broke up too.

I had a miscarriage while we were together, and while I'll never be happy I lost my baby, I do sometimes look back and wonder where my life would've ended up if things had been different. We'd have never got a mortgage because of his existing obligations. He'd be tied to them forever. I'd be looking after three kids and probably still giving him handouts, listening to him shíteing on about lefty politics while he smokes in the house and puts away cans of lager.

I don't believe in a higher power but when I look back, it's hard not to think there was someone looking out for me the day we went our separate ways!

Candie wrote: »

I almost died from meningitis as a young adult. I felt the world dimming around me, and in me, and I wanted the darkness because of the pain. I wasn't afraid. But I recovered and here I am.

The experience changed me for the better, I think.

Same, cept I was a kid. Got meningitis b. Was in a coma for weeks/hospital for months. I'm grateful to be alive.

Candie wrote: »

I almost died from meningitis as a young adult. I felt the world dimming around me, and in me, and I wanted the darkness because of the pain. I wasn't afraid. But I recovered and here I am.

The experience changed me for the better, I think.

Oh Candie, you just made me cry !

I nearly lost my son to menigitis a few years ago. The scariest time of my life and to this day I give thanks that all worked out ok but I wouldnt wish the feeling of helplessness on my worst enemy

Glad you recovered and doing well. X

Was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Jan 2016. Couple of months later, my wife was invited to a wedding afters with one of her friends. It was a +1 and her friend had just broken up with her boyfriend, so my wife was asked along as her friend didnt want to go on her own. Our kids were 1 and 4 at the time, and we had dinner and I put the young lad down for bed. Walked out of the room and the hall was spinning badly. I was in the middle of a fairly bad hypo having taken too much insulin at dinner. It was my first proper low, and in a panic I went to check my blood glucose instead of going straight for a hypo treatment. I was 1.6 (normal range is between 4 and 8), which is close to passing out range. Managed to stagger in to the kitchen and treat the low, but was close to collapsing. The wedding was in Meath, so if I'd passed out I could have been in serious trouble as the wife wasn't coming home any time soon.

Havent had a low like that since, thankfully.

Used ride regularly down in Blessington Lakes - we’d use these well ridden powerful hunters and went out most weekends for years.

One weekend we were galloping
through a section & I could see a low hanging branch ahead of the rider in front of me - she didn’t or somehow thought her helmet would magically protect her - it tore out her eye.


Few months later my stomach had recovered enough to go back - what I didn’t know is that the horses hadn’t been out much because of the aftermath of that accident. Horse decided to do its own thing, galloped out of control leaping over fences and hedges with me clinging on for dear life - across a marsh when it kept stumbling & I though he would fall & throw me and break my neck - finally hurdled a ditch & fence and ended up galloping around a narrow corner on the ‘main’ road towards an oncoming massive chrome truck. Can still see the whites of the drivers hands. Horse bolted up the rockface to a slow & I jumped off. Never gone riding again. Rolled up the stirrups and tied up the lead & walked home. Never again. 15 years of riding OVER.

My nerves are still gone. I don’t know how that driver managed to brake & not steam over us.

Its not the best lucky break I’ve had but the one that was most out of control where I was utterly powerless & knew for a prolonged period that I was utterly helpless & totally screwed. Still break into sweats & flashbacks thinking of it. No dude ranch holiday in argentina/ colorado for me - ever.

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

I was driving to my then girlfriend's and I was late.
It was her aunt's 60th and I was driving her and both siblings so couldn't be late.

Coming over the road I spotted a car with a puncture. I'd always stop to ask if someone needs help and they looked like the were struggling. But I really couldn't. Anyway as I was dithering the car behind me threw on the indicator and as I drove on I could see they stopped to help.

Anyway I drove on. Picked up my 3 passengers and headed to the party.
Had to pass the same spot.

Blue lights everywhere!!!
Bits of cars everywhere. Fire brigade, gaurds and 3 ambulances.

A car had driven at speed into the car that stopped to help. It was now mangled into the car with the puncture.
(It was alsoa blue A4, just like mine)

Paramedics were dealing with 2 people on the ground near the tyre.

I rang the garda station the next day. Nobody killed but serious injury, that's all he could tell me.

This reminds me of my brothers best friend. He was at a party (my brother was at the same party but left earlier) and some lads that were there were driving to a house to get more drink to bring back to the party. My brother’s friend went in the car with them. Halfway to the other house my brothers friend decided he actually wanted to go home so they just dropped him off at the side of the road on the way. The rest of the lads in the car ended up crashing the car, 4 of them dead. All under the age of 20..