The 1994 Incident in the Park

So remember the year 1994? - The T.V show “Friends” aired for the first time, Brazil won the world cup, the Channel tunnel opened, the existence of black holes was proved, and a 4 year old Karina takes on her most dangerous stunt yet…cycling in the park.

As a 90’s kid I was rocking some awesome bright clothes, (clashing bright colour I add). I had huge dark glasses to cut out the sun light, (but really made me look like a celebrity) and I was kitted out with every possible item of protective clothing my parents could possibly buy; helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, gloves…

I have been told that it was normal spring day, no wind, warm but not too bright or sunny, and no rain…which rules out me blaming the “incident” on the weather conditions. My parents took me and brother to our local park. This was my first time I would ride my bike (with stabilisers) anywhere other than the comfort of our back garden, and I was so excited to be riding at record-breaking speeds of 4mph across open spaces.

The park had been carefully chosen because it had flat level grass, the size of 4 football pitches. 1 concrete path, with green soft grass on both sides, no trees, branches or bushes in sight. The only obstacle in the entire expanse of space was a single lamppost - so in my parents calculating risk minds, this was almost the perfect location.

My brother was a pro at cycling (he is two years older than me) and was off quicker than a grey hound at the races. I was determined not to be left behind, so jumped on my bike and started to cycle. I cycled, gaining speed with every pedal, but before I could gain any distance, I had a collision. In fact this particular collision was so hard, I was fully knocked off my bike and landed flat on my bum, on the concrete. This collision wasn’t with some unexpected object appearing out of nowhere, or my brother darting in front of me, but was with in fact with the one single solitary lamppost in the entire of the park, which my parents thought I would never hit. They were clearly wrong.

My parents ran over, and scooped me up, and through my tears of shock and pain, and some hidden laughs from my parents (once they realized I wasn’t injured) - I sobbed “I wish I had a bottom pad”. To this day I genuinely think that inventions by my 4 year-old self would be golden, especially for any visually impaired child learning to ride a bike, as we do fall off a lot! Anyway five minutes later, I was back on the bike, and I never collided with that particular lamppost ever again, shame the same can’t be said for other lampposts, or shiny Mercedes Benz...

So until next time remember to find the humour in whatever form it comes. @klang_28

Did my parents choose my name to be Ironic?

I often wonder why my parents named me Karina. If you ask them, they will give some answer about liking the name, but a small tiny part wonders if they did it for pure lifelong irony and humour. You see my surname is Lang...so take the K from Karina, put it with Lang, you get KLANG.

Now you wouldn’t automatically assume this to be ironic. However when I was born, my parents found out I had albinism. A pretty rare genetic condition. In a nutshell, I have no colouring and poor eyesight....and what happens when you have poor eye sight, you tend to bump in to things and it makes the noise KLANG.

I have walked into many things over the years. Patio doors, lampposts, door handles. I have tripped up stairs, down stairs, even across stairs (still not sure how that happened). I have run into people, banisters, glass doors, and even my brother at school. I have taken footballs, netballs, lacrosse balls, crickets balls, volley balls all to the face. There has also been many an incident on bicycles, (but I shall save them for another day). After all this and more, I think it is safe to say I have a pretty high pain tolerance, because every one of the injuries (regardless of if it drew blood) would make a resounding thud and KLANG noise.

Being visually impaired is no walk in the park; it is falling, slipping, colliding, and painful at times quest. I don’t know if my parents managed to teach me to laugh about all my mishaps through great parenting, (although I am sure they would take the credit) or if it just happened by accident, like supposedly my name. Either way being visually impaired can get you into and sometimes out of ridiculous and surreal situation.

I find these situations hilarious, and people I share them with tend to as well. So I thought I would write a blog and see how it goes. Read as often or as little as you like, comment as you please. (Just don’t mention my spelling or grammar, I know it is terrible), so until next time remember to find the humour in whatever form it comes. @klang_28