Sunday, January 24, 2010

Dangerous Writing

Writing must be an incredibly high risk activity. It must rate up there with base jumping and marlin wrestling, javelin catching or playing chicken with trains.

Or so you'd think, because I just got my ACC bill!!!!

(For those unfortunates who do not live in New Zealand, that is Accident Compensation Corporation, the entity we pay money to through our wages, road user charges, petrol taxes etc to pay for medical treatment and/or compensate us for injury so we cannot sue.)

Mind you, I can see their point. I might accidentally suffer a life-threatening paper cut requiring extensive surgery, hospitalisation and lengthy rehabilitation. Or there is a certain risk of sustaining crush injuries from an avalanche of crud off of my desk. My keyboard could suddenly malfunction and flick a rogue letter up to poke me in the eye. Or for that matter, I could, in a fugue of writing frenzy accidentally poke myself in the eye. Now I think about it, the list goes on and on. I see their point entirely. This writing is a risky business.

Oh ACC, please forgive me for ever doubting you.

2 comments:

Pen said...

LOL! This really tickled my funny bone. Thanks for the chuckle Vanda. Great post.

Writing in indeed a very dangerous business.

Anonymous said...

In the UK it's one of the most expensive professions to get life insurance for. Apparently the rationale is that there's no way of distinguishing between the writers who write from home surrounded by coffee/children/cats and the ones who go out and embed with the Marines in Afghanistan....