Ice Slips and Knitting 101

I have a new favourite pastime (thanks to one of my housemates for her excellent teaching skills and patience): knitting! I'm thinking of it as a good exercise to help heal my left arm that I hurt over a week ago.

It happened last Thursday on the way home from work via several supermarkets (you have to go to at least two or three stores to do all your grocery shopping, and then still you can't find all you want). I was crossing a road and slipped on a large patch of ice in front of a car. Usually I'm pretty cautious with this as it's a common problem for pedestrians on the UB footpaths and roads (especially for the unprepared foreigner). On this occasion though I think I was trying to hurry across the poorly lit road in front of several cars and didn’t notice the ice. This is the way you have to cross the road here: you must step out in front of cars, forcing the drivers to give way. They won't stop otherwise. So I slipped and fell, putting out my arm so as to appear to land, somewhat graciously, in the middle of the road. Luckily one of my housemates was there to signal to the driver of the large 4WD that I was almost underneath their bonnet when they attempted to continue to drive in my direction.

This is how it is on the roads in UB – drivers behind the wheels of massive cars and vans, following barely any formal road rules (if such exist) and instead make their way through the streets, beeping their horns, as if everyone is in it for themselves. Somehow though, it does seem to work for them and from what I’ve seen, there are very few accidents. As I write this now I hear car horns blaring. Most likely because they’ve been double-parked (usually by someone who intends to park there for more than just a few minutes), or they simply wish to switch lanes.

As I couldn't quite straighten my arm or bend it properly, I went to the SOS clinic the following day. After a couple of x-rays I was relieved to find out that there were no broken bones, just a sprained elbow. So I've been wearing it in a sling since (pictured here with my new dress purchased from UB's black market).

Being left-handed, I’ve had a lot of trouble restraining myself from using my left arm, especially when it comes to food, brushing my teeth, typing, playing my ukelele, and my what seem to be my favourite activities to do at home: washing the dishes and now, knitting. For now I'm trying to master the basic knitting techniques, and once I've graduate from my housemate's knitting 101 course I'll begin to knit something of value!