Our neighbour asked us to be part of the audience for their band's amateur videotaping they'd planned in a chapel at the end of our lane last week. The owner of the 1857 Methodist chapel (and also of the Old New Inn), is a local artist, who uses the chapel as his home and studio. He is one of only 133 artists (Dan Llywelyn Hall) to have been commissioned to paint Queen Elizabeth's portrait, and which we were lucky enough to see in its natural habitat.
The Recursives set up their equipment amidst the stained glass windows
and paintings,
dressed up, added lights, smoke, dancers and then worked through 3 'takes' of their chosen song, "Delilah". They created quite a dramatic scene. Dale and I were to wave our arms in the air from the pews and shake tambourines at an assigned time.
As we were wrapping up, our neighbour suddenly became very ill with chest pains, sweating profusely. It was incredibly sudden and there was no clue, no warning, that he'd been working up to having a heart attack. The 999 emergency line advised giving him an aspirin (which he was unable to swallow or dissolve) and making him as comfortable as possible, in whatever position he could tolerate. His wife arrived and pleaded with emergency services to send an ambulance, but they couldn't get one to him right away and couldn't say how long it would be. We waited outside for at least 50 minutes, thinking it would be there soon, and we could show them exactly where to go. Another call to 999 revealed that it could be 3 hours before an ambulance could get there!
Dale happened to have his Welsh knight's suit of armour with him, so he readily volunteered to drive the couple to the hospital 45 minutes away, risking speed cameras (which could jeopardize his driver's licence) at every turn. Our neighbour was seen right away and taken into surgery to have a stent inserted, after which he recovered in hospital for 5 days. He returned home this afternoon - Dale helped save his life, and he has been deeply thanked.
What a horribly, scary turn of events that evening took. It was all so bizarre and frightening to see someone struggling to stay alive and there being NOTHING that could help him.
This disquieting scene painted by Dan encapsulated the turn of the evening's mood.
Ironically, we have an ambulance service stationed on our lane, but they closed at 8PM that night, so obviously one needs to pick a convenient time to have a medical emergency!
