It Is About The Camaradarie

Last week I asked for contributions from other strip scene participants, this is the second and its from TonyN, a regular and valued contributor to this blog. For those of us that have been visiting clubs regularly for any length of time, it is inevitable that we become known to each other, we know the owners and we know the girls. Its a community and this story portrays this view perfectly....

"I was in Roehampton recovering from the amputation of my right leg. Have to say that it was quite a stressful time to be honest but was gradually getting back to my normal self. At weekends we were allowed out unsupervised and as I was good friends with the landlady of the Queen Anne in Vauxhall I decided to visit her instead of her visiting me.

The one thing I wasn't allowed to take was my prostectic leg, no matter I was getting pretty damn hot at hopping. Cab arrived and off I went, having spent 3 months in hospital and another month in rehab the chance to get out was incredible and knowing that a lot of the people I knew were making the effort to come down even if it was only for a swift half. Personally I was intending to be there for several.

 

On arrival after being brought in throught the fire escaped I was mobbed by 3 of the dancers working that afternoon as I hadn't been in for over 8 months. So settled in by the bar in my wheelchair and relaxed. What is so special is not just the way the dancers and landlady treated but a lot of my friends that wouldn't come near hospitals turned up. Having drunk at the Queen Anne since 1991 and been a regular since 2003 I knew a lot of people and it seems where I spoke to one person they spoke to 2 or 3 others and the place got really quite busy.

Now the gents would be difficult to hop into so I used the ladies and parked my wheelchair outside. Now it was in the way of the route back to the changing rooms so the chair would be moved out of the way and put back. And of course the second time coming out of the ladies someone had decided to move the wheelchair, I backed out of the ladies and went to sit down.... on a wheelchair that wasn't there. Landed hard on the stump and to be honest the pain was a little intense for a few seconds but imagine it was a you been framed moment for everyone else. Denise the landlady called an ambulance but in the meantime I was helped back into my chair and decided a pint was the best pain killer.

 

Fast forward 15 minutes and I am relaxed in my chair and I am getting attention from everyone. So a dancer was onstage as in walk the 2 ambulance crew, strangely they were a little distracted and the first couple of minutes they forgot their patient. Once they had checked me out and found out apart from shock I was fine we discussed the fact that although they work the area they had never had a call to the pub, the paramedic had been working the aea for 10 years and had never been to called out to the Anne or even knew it was where it was.

 

After going out to my favourite resturant on the area and a couple of pints I had to go back to Roehampton. As the fall had caused bruising to my stump one issue was I couldn't get my leg on and required ice treatment for 2 weeks to help shrink the stump the other was explaining exacty to the physio how I had managed to miss my wheelchair. But for all the stupidity it was a fantastic day out and wonderful to see friends that because of the location of the hospitals I had been in I hadn't seen for 10 months or so. I would also point out after my parents the most frequent visitors I had in hospital were the Landlady of the Anne and two of the regulars. Just shows it isn't always about money, it is about the camaraderie".