I recently took part in a training exercise with Kinder Mountain Rescue Team. Previously they had asked me to be a volunteer casualty for a day, and I had gladly accepted the invitation…
The weather forecast was for an overcast and cool day, so I packed my bags with down, fleece and Thermos flask, knowing that lying still in a ditch on a moor is a cold pastime. I needn’t have worried as the sun was beaming down all day, and I could have got away in a T-Shirt..! I was quickly found by a SARDA Dog, and the team were soon on me. My condition was diagnosed and I was stretchered off the hill. It was a lovely day out, and I can highly recommend a team of folk to carry you around..! There is a serious point to all of this, which is the continuous scenario training of the team. Hopefully when the real thing happens, everything runs smoothly and people are helped to safety. Lots of pictures were taken and I thought ‘when I get home, I’ll post something on social networking to promote the work of the MRT’. What I wasn’t ready for was the inability of people to read…
I sat before my computer later that evening and posted these words…
‘Today I suffered a severe Angina attack and fell down some rocks, injuring my head.
Don’t Panic..!
It was all in the name of training with Kinder Mountain Rescue Team.’
I thought a strong headline would get people’s attention, and indeed it did. Within minutes, I was receiving messages to get well soon and a fair few telling’s off. People I met the next day asked how my head was..! It seems that my reputation for accidents had made people assume that I really had injured myself. They had digested the headline, but not read the words below. This seems something that many of us suffer…
We are bombarded with junk mail, spam mail, e-mail and small print and more and more, people demand our attention. This assault can turn off our interest and we skim quickly over pages of paragraphs. I’ve had a few run ins with companies when it comes to small print, as the clauses written seem to protect only them. I can remember a car insurer saying something like ‘have you not read paragraph 6 of page 24 of your policy booklet..?’ My reply was ‘No, I have a life’. This did not go down well. I always make a point of talking to people and asking some straight questions, particularly when it comes to insurance. Travel insurance is a prime example as you don’t want to find that you’re not covered after an accident has happened. Companies galore give discounts to book on the web, and some now demand a call centre charge for speaking to another member of the human race..! I’ll take my business elsewhere…
Headlines need to be short and concise, and sites like Twitter make you think about the length of your message. Others allow reams of drivel to pollute your eyes, but I always like a simple sentence. I thought I had achieved this. I was obviously very wrong…
So enough of this post, or you’ll get bored. You can either read before you leap, think about what you’re writing, or we can all face the consequences…