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Spiderman falls……

28th November 2007 by Helena 1 Comment  

I had my day all planned out. I was going to write my introduction to the French edition of Two Lipsticks and a Lover, finish my article on the Savoie and then take the children to their tennis lesson this afternoon. This was until Leo (aka Spiderman) decided to dive chin-first into the bidet.

Spiderman

As soon as I heard the crack then the ominous silence followed by the wail I knew it was bad. When I saw the cut I knew there was only one thing for it: casualty. Olivia came with me (keen to meet a real Dr McDreamy). Off we sped with Olivia holding a towel to Leo’s bleeding chin.

We were at the Clinique Pasteur by 8.30am. At 8.35 we were in the treatment room. Leo put on the operating bed and a lovely nurse put some pain-killer on his chin. She told us to wait for the doctor. Olivia was ushered out and went off horse-riding with her sister rather grumpily.

She didn’t miss anything. On a scale of things I never want to see again it is right up there at the number one spot. The cut was deep, it needed five stitches. I was told to hold Leo’s hands by the doctor. Not so much Dr McDreamy but Dr McGrumpy. I thought she meant hold his hands to comfort him. Oh no, she meant hold them because he is going to try to escape when the needle pierces his skin.

“Who is holding his hands?” she yelled as the scissors went flying. I felt like such a fool, and also like throwing up. There was my son covered in green surgical sheets with a gaping wound. It was too horrible.

“Has he eaten today?” asked Dr McGrumpy. I replied in the negative. But I know what that means. That means they can put him under general anesthetic. Things were not looking good.

The last two stitches were the worst. I thought I was going to start hyper-ventilating, never mind Leo, but he was braver than me. After about ten minutes it was all over. He must have been high from the gas. As we left the hospital he asked if we could go and play outside.

When we got home I took his hand walked him towards the house. “Phew I didn’t die,” he said. I’ll second that. And phew we don’t live in England, we’d still be in casualty.


Filed Under: Children, France, blog --> Tagged With: falls, spiderman

One thought on Spiderman falls......

  • Wendy says:
    29th November 2007 at 6:17 pm

    Wow – is that blood all over his face? – sorry couldn’t resist.
    He’s very handsome…

    You’ve been very brave… I would have been flat out cold on the floor.

    Wendy
    http://www.frenchhelpservices.com/blog

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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