Taking a day off today

That pain I get has amped up again

Nothing I can do about it

Just drink water and wait it out

Might try and do a bit more on this painting

It’s coming along

Heading down to the chemist in Newtown for some (bloody useless) pain relief.

I missed the actual incident but there was a man lying on the road just in front of a bus that pulled up

A young hipster guy and I tried to get him to his feet and off the road

He was incoherent but didn’t seem drunk or drugged

We got him sitting on the footpath and the hip guy called the paramedics

The man was well dressed (suit and tie) about my age

He kept trying to get up and saying he had to get to court

Everytime I bent to stop him getting up and falling over I’d get that familiar stab of pain in my abdomen

It took an age for the ambulance to arrive (from 100 metres up the road)

I really felt for the guy and his confusion in the pouring rain

And that hipster guy was very cool

I hope he’ll be alright

He didn’t want the cops involved that’s for sure – a car drove past and he nearly freaked out. A fire truck too

We asked him how old he was and he said he was 58 that seemed about right and he looked good for his age too in a way

Friend: He may have been post epileptic appears as incoherent and uncoordinated takes about 20 mins to stabilise

Jon McLeary: Yeah my thoughts too. This used to happen to me in my younger days. That’s part of why I jumped in straight away to help

It’s funny. A couple of the local “characters” came up and offered their opinions but couldn’t really help. They kind of zeroed in on the scene and made about as much sense as the man who was in trouble.

I love Newtown

I should also say – the bus driver got out and was concerned. She made sure we would stay with him before she drove off – respect

Friend: Nice that you stopped to help. Most people would just walk on by. Apparently, there is a legal ramification that if you stop to give assistance you must stay with the injured person until the ambulance arrives and takes over. Leaves you open to legal action!

Jon McLeary: There were plenty of people just watching and fair enough I suppose but the other guy and I were on a mission. He stayed on the phone with the emergency services the whole time too and we followed their instructions of what to ask him. I had to manhandle him a bit to keep him from hurting himself on the pavement but we weren’t going anywhere till the paramedic arrived

The karma arrived shortly after that

And friends conspired to help

I can be as negative as anyone else believe me

But some days it’s hard not to see things as they really are

The Ghost of Electricity – War Stories by Jon McLeary is a new initiative at Off The Tracks, a series of stories and reflections from painter, writer and musician Jon McLeary