Doctor: I have some good news and some bad news.
Patient: Okay, well... give me the good news first.
Doctor: You have 24 hours to live.
Patient: How is that good news?!? What's the bad news, then?
Doctor: I've been trying to call you since yesterday.
Yes, they were a pretty infantile form of dark humour, but I couldn't help remembering them last week as my life began to feel a little bit like a bad news - good news script.
The good news: I feel so much better now than over the past months of pneumonia and bronchitis.
The bad news: I still have an annoying, lingering cough.
The good news: we've had relatively mild sunny weather, and that has allowed me to start going out for gentle walks with the dogs again.
The bad news: on my way home, I had a bad fall while walking down my street.
The good news: it's amazing that no bones were broken.
The bad news: I have two huge purple thumbs, bruised swollen knees, and painful pulled muscles down one arm and shoulder.
The good news: I can still write, despite the monster thumbs.
No, seriously, even my little misadventure had a funny side to it. I had just dropped off the dogs and was turning the corner into my street, when I heard a woman's cry, as if someone had fallen or hurt herself. I quickened my pace to see if I could help, and before I knew it, I was lying on my stomach!
I, and the woman in front of me, had both been tripped up by a hole in the pavement, where electrical workers had broken one of the paving stones. Although I was on my way to help her, the other lady had managed not to fall, and she was the one who had to help me get up again.
The good news? It hasn't prevented me from being able to walk, so I'm still enjoying our mild January weather this year and taking the dogs for an afternoon walk in the sunshine. One day, I ran a 4-dog taxi and my canine friends helped me pick up sticks to supplement my firewood.
The postscript to the story is that I wrote an email to the town council, asking them to repair the broken pavement before someone else gets hurt.
