There Was Blood Everywhere — And No One Was Coming to Help

It was approaching midnight.

There was blood everywhere.

But finding help was near impossible on a Friday night.

And so I made a decision.

I'd patch myself up and hope for the best.

Roll back a couple of hours and there I was building a flat-pack sofa bed in my son's new flat in Canterbury.

We'd spent the day lumping furniture up and down stairs, and we were all tired.

One more job and I was going to call it quits to let Oliver and his girlfriend settle in.

And then a freak accident.

I still can't really tell you how it happened.

Only that there was a thin metal bracket.

And my bare knee, as it was unseasonably warm for the end of September.

As I stood, the metal bracket sliced through my skin.

Within a few moments, I was bleeding heavily – and in danger of ruining the newly cleaned carpets.

I took one look at the wound and realised it needed a stitch.

Fortunately, the car was parked around the corner and Amanda was able to drive me to the nearest A&E in Ashford.

They sent me to the minor injuries unit a short distance away.

But as it was almost midnight, they refused to treat me and pointed me back to A&E with a warning that there was a four-and-a-half-hour wait.

We could try Canterbury, a kindly nurse suggested.

We didn't even realise they had a minor injuries unit.

So back we went.

By this point, I'd staunched the worst of the blood with kitchen towels.

And the thought of waiting for hours for treatment filled me with dread after such a long and physically taxing day.

I told Amanda I wanted to go home.

I'd clean the wound and patch myself up.

After all, it was hardly life threatening.

Sometimes life's like that. There is no one to help and you have to take matters into your own hands.

Take Erin in The Good Bad Wife, for example.

When she discovers her friend, Vanessa, is caught in an abusive and violent marriage, there is no one she can turn to for help.

She can't alert the police without giving away that she's on the run and in hiding.

So when Vanessa asks her if she'll be the driver in a hit and run to kill her husband, she has to make a calculation.

She'll have to patch things up herself and hope for the best.

This week, the audiobook was released, read by the amazing Jessica Preddy.

So if you like to take your dose of psychological thrillers aurally, you can now listen to the story on Audible.

The Thriller Couple

As I write this, Amanda and I are frantically preparing to put ourselves firmly out of our comfort zones tomorrow.

We agreed some time ago to run a workshop to advise authors how to self-publish their books as part of the Maidstone LitFest.

It seemed a good idea at the time.

But tomorrow morning we have to deliver. With smiles. And like we know what we're talking about 😱

Wish us luck!

Finally, I've discovered how those pesky wasps have been getting into the house.

You might remember I told you that wasps were nesting in the cavity wall in our dining room.

I didn't want to get rid of them as they're an important part of the ecosystem. And they weren't bothering anyone.

At least not until they found a way inside.

It turns out they were crawling along the inside of the wall and coming out through a hole where I used to run an aerial cable.

Since I stuck a pencil in the hole, we've not seen a single wasp inside!