The room in 19 Cavendish Square where the accounts clerks were housed looked a little like the above image, only with about 10 desks and lots of shelves for box files all the way up to the high ceiling.
One day that week, I’m guessing the Thursday, a big Greek clerk propped a stepladder at the side of my desk (rather than opening the ladder properly) while attempting to retrieve a box file.
The next thing I knew, the big lad was falling backwards and I instinctively dived forward to break his fall. He might have landed dangerously hard on the edge of my desk had I not done so.
The big lad was slightly shocked but unscathed. I felt a surge of pain through my back.
I was in quite a lot of pain with my back for some weeks thereafter. It might well have been the root cause of my serious multiple prolapse nine years later.
I remember it being especially painful on the day of the Elvis Costello concert, which is why I think the incident was just a day or two before the concert. I also remember Elvis’s music seeming to dull the pain.
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