We all have that one thing we are good at. Whether it be a skill, humour, or simply being caring. Focus on your positives. Remember what Einstein said:
‘Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish
by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life
believing that it is stupid.’
Chapter Five
BIKES AND BELLS
The largest rideable bicycle has a wheel diameter of 3.3 metres (10 feet 10 inches) and was built by Didi Senft from Germany. Gut gemacht!
Forcing yourself to smile when you’re sad will actually elevate your mood. Thanks to endorphins from smiling, ‘fake it till you make it’ actually works.
The classic Disney character Goofy is not a cow, nor a human, he is an anthropomorphic dog who wears a snazzy orange turtleneck.
I once read somewhere that your teenage years were meant to be the greatest years of your life. They’re having a laugh, aren’t they? It was the six-week holiday before starting secondary school and one thing after another went wrong. The year 2001 was a difficult one for me. One day in particular changed my life.
I remember the whole thing like it was yesterday. My mam was going round my auntie’s house for a cup of tea. ‘Can I come with you, Mam? I’ll ride round on my bike,’ I said.
‘Course you can but make sure you wear your helmet,’ Mam requested.
‘Come on, Mam, I start big school soon. I don’t need a helmet.’
She gave me that look, that look that every mam possesses; her eyes were telling me you better put that bloody helmet on or there will be hell to pay.
Perching myself on the black foam seat of my bike and wearing my gherkin-green helmet, I rode up and down the quiet street, ringing my little bell like I had done so many times before, humming Aqua’s ‘I’m a Barbie Girl’. I was loving life. I have always been a cautious character so I was riding around slow enough for kids to brisk-walk next to me.
Then I heard a screech of tyres as a car came speeding round the corner. I swerved, making sure I was at the side of the road. Everything suddenly went into slow motion. What could have only been thirty seconds of my life felt like I was stuck in a time loop that was never going to end. The car bumped the back of my bike and I could see it speed off through tear-filled eyes. As I flew over my handlebars I remember squeezing my eyes closed. Screaming on the inside, please don’t hurt, please don’t hurt! Knowing I couldn’t stop the inevitable fall.
I felt the impact on my chin first as it smashed onto the concrete floor, followed by my teeth. I didn’t know what had happened but I just remember wanting the pain to stop. I thought my teeth had gone through my gums. I had shattered my front two teeth on the gravelled road. My once favourite white Tammy Girl top was now crimson. Some girl called Kayleigh screamed so loud my mam and auntie came out of the house to see what was going on.
My mam was screaming, ‘Oh, help! I don’t know what to do!’ I remember some of the kids in the street trying to pick up the shards of my teeth to help me while my mam was in hysterics calling the dental surgery for an emergency appointment on my auntie’s landline.
My mam grasped my hand in the taxi on the way to the dentist. ‘It’s going to be OK. It could have been so much worse if you hadn’t had that helmet on, Scarlett. We have to focus on the positive, sweetheart.’
I sat back on the black leather dentist chair wishing I were sitting anywhere but there. ‘How many injections am I going to need?’ I could barely even make out what I was bleating out myself.
The dentist, as most adults do when you’re younger, directed all of his answers to my mam. ‘Scarlett is going to need eight injections, and the nerves in her front right tooth are going to have to be removed. This will result in this front tooth quickly turning black as the tooth is technically dead. Due to the gums and teeth having so much trauma she will probably have to wait until she is around eighteen to twenty-one before she can get veneers. I would start saving now as they’re very expensive.’
I looked at my mam who appeared as a blur because of all my tears. I endured the pain of the injections. Wishing so loud in my brain, if only I could quickly turn back the clock and not go round the street on my bike. I knew that once I sat up from that dentist chair I would probably not have the confidence to smile for a very long time.
In fact it was a whole decade of my life before I smiled again. Even when I wanted to, I didn’t. I haven’t got one photo with my grandma (my nanny’s mam) Frieda (God rest her soul) where I am smiling. I haven’t even got photos with my little sister when she was a baby or a toddler where I am smiling showing my teeth. I would talk with
