TRIGGERS: TRAUMA, INJURIES

Firstly, please don’t freak because the song’s called ‘As You Fall’ and I’m standing on a balcony. It’s one floor up, I’m watching the sun come up, listening to the dawn chorus, and there’s a corrugated roof about one metre below. I’m fine!

But this spot reminded me of something that happened when I was about 10yrs old. When Dad was out or away on work, we kids would shinny up a ladder, walk gingerly across the garage roof, and sit with our legs dangling over the edge, about a metre above Dad’s glasshouse roof, and we’d chat and watch the traffic at the corner of Antil Street and Northbourne Avenue, Downer ACT.

One night, we’d finished up our sit and watch session, I forgot momentarily, stood up and:

Shot straight through the glasshouse pain glass roof and fell into Dad’s tomato plants. I left a lot of shin skin on my plummet downwards and lost a lot of claret! Swore my siblings to secrecy, spent the next half hour in the bathroom on clean up, patch and repair, and staunched the flow.

Got up at sparrow’s the next morning and boarded a bus with my band colleagues to attend a competition at Chevalier Daramalan College Alumni sister college in Bowral. Probably still in shock.

It didn’t really affect my performance; I was only ever an average tenor horn player at best. And never mind I now gently urge musicians old and young not to self-deprecate*; that is a fair self-assessment and my band leader was in furious agreement!

It wasn’t my first accident waiting to happen** – that was probably age three when I stuck a fork in a power socket and shot back across the room.

And it sure as shit was not my last. I’ve been tripping, crashing, stumbling, teetering, tottering, and falling ever since. As I get older, I don’t particularly get wiser – I just learn and apply coping and mitigating strategies. I’m not better or worse than any other sentient being – I probably do though spend more time in Accident & Emergency than the average bear. 🐻

You can read about my latest trip to the Emergency Department of you scroll back – Sunday 24 May 2026. I sang Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd as St John Ambulance 🚑 paramedics wheeled me from triage to first level care. Emily was pushing the gurney and she did the harmony with me.

Music is one of my trauma coping strategies, and this song is one of them. As You Fall by Bent.

Provided to YouTube by Ministry of Sound Recordings Ltd

As You Fall · Bent

Ariels

℗ 2004 Open/Ministry Of Sound Recordings Ltd.
℗ Open|Ministry of Sound Recordings Limited

Released on: 2011-10-23

Artist: Bent

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Full song in comments.

Bill Quinn – Bill The Gypsy 🧸 👨‍🏫
Bill Quinn, Australia