Really scared!

I'm sure this will open a box most of us would want to keep shut, but when were you really scared. I mean absolutely boll*ck, sh*tl*ss scared. What happened, how did you react, did it defuse things and with hindsight, would you do it differently now.

I had a situation in the Legion when, as a corporal, I hit a Moroccan guy, a muslim, and supposedly hitting them in public is a total no-no. He swore blind and very convincingly that he was going to knife me as I slept. I so believed him and, being young and fairly naive, with nowhere to go, I stayed awake for night after night with as big a chopper as I could under my pillow. He didn't get me in the end but I had fear like I don't want again. Maybe he's still out there!!!

wow!
my worst experience was in blackpool...surprise surprise!
i was on a stag weekend with a group of friends from the old karate club i used to teach at,anyways after a day of unmercifully heavy drinking we went back to the hotel to freshen up and get ready for round 2
some of the guys wanted to stay in the flea pit "hotel" and drink carling for £1 a can whereas a few of us wanted to go out on the town.I ended up with the stag in an indian restaurant and on leaving saw at least 8 guys kicking the absolute shit out of some goth on the floor,jumping on his head...the whole nine yards,the stag(who's a handful at the best of times) waded in with my in his wake...we dispatched most of them with a few slaps and ended up with the last two posturing and basically "ballooning" and the usual"you're dead shit"
the next thing i know my mate has legged it and i'm thinking what the f*ck
what had happened was one of them was carrying and had stabbed my mate in the side.....
by the time i caught up with him he was leaning up against a wall
and when he lifted his shirt i saw the extent of the damage...
cut a long story short they found the knife which had been used earlier that night in another stabbing(so he had to have an aids test,hep test)
when we got to the hospital he was stable and sent me back to the hotel
at 9.00am the following morning myself and the rest of the stag party went to the hospital only to find he had been rushed into theatre due to septicaemia.....and then his mother attacked me in the hospital even before she knew i was the only one with him all night and was the one who carried him to the ambulance....and i was not even the best man!
They guys with me could not distance themselves enough and i found out who my friends were right then...talk about damage limitation!
Then i was cautioned because i had hit two people in the melee...WTF?
what would i do differently?
i think just about everything....and the toe rag knifeman?
he's still out there!

at least the goth was grateful!
mick x

what about your mate? the stag. did he make it?
My scariest moment was last sunday when Geoff got me out in front of the whole class to bull with him.
Just kidding, i had a car crash nothing major just a vender bender in Brum a few years back, unfortunately he was a massive black guy with another car full of friends/witnesses behind, it was blatently his fault but try explaining that to like five well pissed of blokes, they made me right down it was my fault, was really intimidating, thought i was gonna get battered, thankfully i didn't. was really annoyed at myself for being intimidated. duno what i'd do differently have to think about that.

Hmmmm

Id have to say my brothers 18th birthday night out.
My brother wanted to go down the town on his 18th, so him and a group of friends went out and a friend of mine and myself went a long to help him celebrate. In those days I drank ( now I dont ) as you may have guessed by that comment Doh. Anyway. halfway into the evening I was on the dancefloor strutting my stuff in a semi ratted john travolta fashion when some trog decides to tell me I was dancing with his girl. ( news to me as she came out for the night with us and was a friend of my brothers ). Anyway this guy decides to ask the time, to which I decide to oblige and look down. next thing I know I have a right cross landing on my jaw and im still standing, and it all kicks off. Hindsight is a wonderful thing isnt it.

Being 3 sheets or maybe more to the wind I decide to throw my best shot, which needless to say done F all to this guy, who was about 15 stone and a good 5 inches taller than me. am surprised I hit his jaw to be honest. Next thing I know I am being thrown out of the club, but this guy is also thrown out but his 3 friends come outside with him.

My brother is kept inside and was NOT allowed out to see me or help in any way as the doorman there had stopped anyone else coming out to see what was going on or intervening. so my back was against the nearest wall and made sure i DID NOT hit the floor while they pummeled me from pillar to post for what seemed like hour, in reality about 2 minutes. During this time I genuinely thought I was not going to be going home, and was more scared than I have ever been in my life, or indeed since.

The friends of my brothers etc when they did all come out after it was all over could not run away fast enough and I saw them running to the other end of the pub when it all kicked off. As mick says, times like that you really know how your friends are. My mate jumped in and god knows what happened to him inside but he never got barred with me.

During this it was when I realised that no matter what we do, there are some things we just cant control. as I saw people under my guard cross the road and walk away and not even call the police.

I done my job and managed to get my brother home safely, and long story short had about 4 months off work to recover. I thank my lucky stars I am still here, and still have some long term lasting effects, headaches, and vision is not as good in my right eye anymore, but im still here.

Police did get involved as someone at the pub had reported it, I fingered the main guy responsible. he got arrested, and ordered to pay me compensation for loss of earnings at. wait for it. 5 quid a month. lasted about 5 months. so all in all. Crap result apart from the fact im able to help people learn from such things and can tell them it does happen.
Apart from Jayne and my family. This is the first time this has been stuck out in the open. So feels a tad weird speaking about it but am glad I could share it.

All in all, A time I would never wish to repeat, or have anyone else go through.

What would I do different? talk my brother into going to another watering hole and still make sure he came home in one piece.

Thanks for that Alan, interesting post mate.

Craig

Great post Alan,

Despite also being beaten up in Blackpool and chased around town by gangs of lads a few times my point of fear doesn't relate to anything physical.

Being a parent scares the crap out of me. Every second of my life is dedicated to keeping my kids safe, healthy and provided for. Knowing that I may not always be able to do this and can't guarantee this scares me to the core. When your child is in pain and you can't do anything to change it the helplessness is excrutiating. The thought of them growing away from me is also scary.

I am blessed in that I have two great, healthy kids but the thought of not always being able to help them and take away hurt is tough.

Should I react differently? I wish I could be more like my wife, when my son was choking on a crisp she was amazing, I was in bits. When my daughter wandered off on holiday she was calm, I was not great. (Bit of an understatement really, I was ready to turn over every table and chair)

Would I change anything? No way. I love being a dad and enjoy it immensely. I'll gladly put up with the grey hair and stress.

Amen to that Matt

I hear ya mate,
same here

Craig

Being a parent scares the crap out of me. Every second of my life is dedicated to keeping my kids safe, healthy and provided for. Knowing that I may not always be able to do this and can't guarantee this scares me to the core. When your child is in pain and you can't do anything to change it the helplessness is excrutiating. The thought of them growing away from me is also scary.

Know this feeling Matt - only thing that helps me a little is that if we bring them up right in the first place might help matters. Delving into buddhism a little also knowing that everything is impermanent and no matter what, our wee'ins will be off doing there own thing - we cannot change it, we certainly won't like it but thats the circle of life I suppose - acceptance - which is hard but perhaps a life lesson..

Otherwise, we just lock them in their room and don t let them out til we croak it

All the best,

Eric

Hook ladders used to scare the crap out of me. They have taken them out of use in the Fire Service now. They were a wooden ladder 13ft long with a big metal hook on the end. The drill was to hook it on the first floor window sill on the drill tower (or burning building) then climb up it and straddle the window sill. You then had to pump this heavy ladder up to the next floor ... and so on until the 7th floor - so you would have to swing out onto the bottom of the ladder which was about 70ft off the ground and then climb up it with straight arms. The hook had teeth in it and used to slide back out from the window sill a few inches, as you were ascending, before it 'bit' into the wood! Several fireman had been known to have fallen off them and were severely injured - this info didn't help too much Not for those of a nervous disposition ... Had some scary fires too

Steve

Hi Everybody,

One of my scary moments was a few years ago while working in Siberia in the cold of January. This visit has a long saga with many more stories to tell. I was contracted in as lead engineer by an American company to negotiate for them on new contracts in which the Siberians needed critical plant for new massive refinery expansions. I remember landing there in the cold and dark of the night and feeling the fear run through my body as I could not see my name anywhere on the specially appointed taxi services that are carefully pre booked for us before we leave the UK for safety reasons. I had never been anywhere so cold that it made my Mr. Wiggly a normal size.

I suddenly realized that I should have bought a Russian translator along as very few people spoke English in this part of Siberia. Eventually after 45 minutes of standing outside (what looked like a military airport) at 2.00am my taxi came. This mafia looking guy held a card up that said “Antonio Terranova” and we drove through with what seemed like a drive in the North Pole with the snow tyres making unfamiliar noises with all the chains they had strapped on.

I had no idea if in fact this was the real taxi company that was supposed to pick me up as the two guys in the front who came to pick me up had both had a charm bypass and my fear became intesified with the silence. I was however in my favorite position in a taxi which is sitting in the back as that gives you the edge should there be any signs of problems brewing (taking your belt of and it rapping round a taxi drivers neck immediately makes him into a responsive human sat nav!).

We eventually got to the hotel where I was greeted outside by a guy with a photo album of pretty young local women asking me if I would like to buy a wife to take back home with me. I said no in Russian which his only word I knew and I gave him a smile as I wished I could have said to him “you brought a new meaning to cold canvas selling mate” (it was below 40 degrees). By this time in my long journey (I had flown from the UK to Switzerland then to Moscow and then to Siberia) I was feeling tired, confused, scared, disorientated and lonely.

The next day I met up with all the other contractors who seemed nervous about the whole surroundings we were in. I was told to be careful as my room might be bugged and to be very cautious when out at night and a whole bunch of other scary things about the whole event and that they all had Russian translators (I didn’t). On the first night I got together with another fellow Italian engineer who like me was the only other contractor who did not have a Russian translator. We went out together for dinner on the first night and had our first of many scary moments.

We got in a taxi to be taken to a place we were told was safe to eat at night. We had a meal and got a taxi back to the hotel. As my friend shut the taxi door outside the restaurant the inside panel fell off with the door handle attached to it. The taxi driver went ballistic and shouted at us to get out. We got out and taxi and driver started getting very animated at my friend. I kept an eye on his mate as they were both aggresive (these were stocky guys with Vodka breath). At the point at which I thought a physical altercation was evident I had one of those ‘oh s..t what do we do now moments’.

Here is the problem; they were both smothered in layers of thick clothing from head to toe due to the cold, hitting them would be like hitting a pad – the ground was pure ice you could barely stand and if you fell the chances are you would get stuck to the ice – so no kicking and no ground work – no punches (as we had massive gloves on) - so what’s left – no point in getting in a good slap as there was nowhere for us to go even if the slap put them on their backs – we had no idea where we were or how to get to our hotel – we needed a strategy and not martial arts techniques – I pulled put some money and gave it to the taxi driver with a calm smile – I travel a lot and realized a long time ago that money has no religion, no culture and no loyalty – but money talks and it has a universal language.

The situation calmed down and we were taken back to the hotel. During the journey I looked at the busted panel and could see it was a set up, they had put a small velcro type hook clip on the panel which would just open when the door shut. Very clever I thought. We got dropped of at the hotel and we paid them and left with a smile. My smile lasted a while and my Italian friend asked me why I was so happy, I said ‘I ripped that clip off the panel that they used to set everyone up with, here it is mate you can sling out in the snow to make you feel better”.

Regards to all
Tony. T

Nice Post Tony

One which I loved reading, and hope there are more to come.
With all your experiences and traveling it would make for some very good reading.

All the best mate
Craig

I did Russian at A Level, not too good now though, so if anybody is stuck for a Taxi in Russia the Russian for Taxi is 'Такси', pronounced 'Taxi'.

Always here to help...

I will regret that on Monday

Hi Craig,

As always thanks for your nice comments.

Geoff has pushed me for some time to write a book about my travels and experiences using analogies from my engineering that are applicable to life. In fact I actually finished the first chapter and need to get my act into gear to complete it.

The book will be called “The Nuts and Bolts of Living” – the title reflects that it is about coping strategies for living from ‘an engineers prospective’ – I have many notes set aside from my visit experiences in Japan, South Africa, Italy, China, Iran, Saudi, USA, Canada and just about every corner of the world –

I have a different story to tell about it each place and how each climate effected my training as I train on my own every day when I make these visits even if I it is only for 20 minutes. My view is that it is better to train 20 minutes every day consistently than just say twice a week for an hour. The old saying goes “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” and that is correct – but if you forget to eat one every day and instead eat 7 apples all in one go on a Sunday you will feel rough – it’s the same analogy with training – a little but often is better than nothing of just a blast a few times a week.

Well done for creating a community spirit on this forum – credit to you mate

Regards,
Tony

Write that book Mr.T
I for one will be in the Q looking for a signed copy x

The book sounds as if will be a great read. Write it....write it!!!

Thanks for the kind words Tony,

I will also be in the queue behind mr tully

Will be a fantastic read, so come on mate, get pen to paper

Regards
Craig

I agree with everyone Tony, write that book! I have to agree with Matt Viall that being a parent is very scarey. I have two children and every waking moment is spent thinking about them and their safety especially when they are not with me. As a parent you have to learn to relax and let go but it is hard. They dont understand that they are your world as none of us did when we were young. I can remember losing my daughter in B & Q and I found her playing in the mock bathrooms! My heart was in my mouth and I couldnt function until I found her. Last year when the floods came, my daughter decided that she was going to be a one girl rescue crew and try and find a friends brother. Obviously I was beside myself and after 4 hours and lots of fretting, Hannah made contact. I borrowed my friends car as mine was in the garage and I went to collect her. I managed in the process to brake something off her car! I eventually met up with Hannah and I cant explain the relief but also the anger! I had so many emotions going through me at once I couldnt speak. My dad was also on the look out for her and met up with us and my daughter actually said to my dad that she didnt want to get into the car with me because I was so angry. Like I said, lots of emotions. Children are fantastc at taking you to your extremes and they are very innocent in the way they do it. My daughter just wanted to help her friend but in turn made me have grey hair!!! I wouldnt be without them though!!

Hi Tony, go on write the book, i love reading your articles,of your life and MA and your opinions.But only if you dont have to stop the PT lessons to do it, im having withdrawal symptons!!!!!!!

Hi Tony, go on write the book, i love reading your articles,of your life and MA and your opinions.But only if you dont have to stop the PT lessons to do it, im having withdrawal symptons!!!!!!!

Come on mate

Esther got withdrawel symptoms so bad she posted the same post twice.

Tony is already writing the book since February 2007 I believe.

Take your time Tony.

Kind Regards,

Nick Engelen

oooops!! Just testing!!!!

I have had a few sh*t scary moments, nothing like the ones posted on here, but even so enough to make their mark. The one which does stick in my mind not b/c of any physical harm but b/c of the stupidity of me:

At university, when of course you think that nothing bad will ever happen to you and I decided to walk the 15 min walk from the student bar to my student house, on my own at 2am, across a open field, no lights where there was a building at far end I had to go around the corner of this building which was a total blind spot ! As I staggered home (!?!) I not only had no idea what or who was behind me I had no idea if anyone was waiting around the corner of this building b/c until you went around it you could not see anything. As it happens there was someone, luckily for me it was one of the universities security guards out with his dog – but the shock of it scared the cr*p out of me. Suddenly out of nowhere this huge man appeared, I can tell you he gave me a right telling off, telling me I was stupid, what if it had been someone else etc etc and from that moment he never let me leave the student bar without asking who was walking with me – great guy, shocked lesson!

hi guys,
really scared?
Last sunday morning,my 7 year old fell off his trampoline and had a double break in his arm.He had to have a pin inserted and the other break manipulated under general anaesthetic....as the "strawberry milkshake" took effect on my little boy and his little body registered it was losing consciousness....that was my most scary moment...feeling helpless watching.I've choked out a number of people and that moment really affected me!He's all good now and running around in a cast so all good....but the helplessness i felt while watching him still upsets me!
And the bravest thing?
Seeing Max take it on the chin when he was told he was going to have a little nap while his arm was going to get fixed....me?
I'd be asking for some adult nappies!
mick x

Parachuting, i hate it when the door opens, but on the other hand i love doing it because it scares me and is the greatest feeling in the world, the Mrs on the other hand hates me doing it. Do a lot of kayaking and really dont like the thought of drowning. Had a few scrapes at work as well