Last Thursday was 'interesting'. Not because Rikaitch was due to arrive, that was a 'fun' thing; this was 'interesting' as in the old curse sort of 'interesting'.

I'd been out with the E.P.I.C. to get some shopping done and he'd asked me if I wanted a quick drink before heading home. I said 'yes please' and so we headed to a local pub and recovered from the Hell That Is the Local Supermarket with a bevvie.
We decided to go outside and be anti-social for a while and it was there that I met up with a person I'd known since I was about thirteen. I'd met him at a youth club in the last century and we began talking about old times and catching up on gossip from the last twenty years.
E.P.I.C. had to head off to work and so I decided to finish off my drink whilst nattering.
I still had time before I had to go back and the one drink turned into three as we caught up on what was occurring in the locale.

But time caught up and I explained that I had to go back as I was expecting friends to arrive, but as we'd started talking about starting up another youth club, he walked back to my place with me. We were still talking when we got there and he asked if it would be alright to stay and chat for a little while longer.
This is where I made a mistake and agreed.

He didn't want to go despite my politely dropping hints for him, but fortunately the ex turned up rather earlier than expected followed very soon after by the early arrival of Rikaitch with fourteen year old son Johnaitch in tow.
This is where things started getting very 'interesting'.

The chap (I shall refer to him from now on as Muppet) began acting very strangely indeed. First he began to slur his words rather more than he had been. At first I thought the three pints he'd had were something to do with that, but then he began to get far worse. I figured out things were not 'right' when he began losing consciousness so I called an ambulance and when I got through they told me that they were very busy but they'd send someone ASAP and to call back if he got any worse.
A minute or so later he was almost out of it with his limbs beginning to twist up and him gibbering incoherently, and I wondered if he was having a stroke.
I called the emergency services again and explained that he was getting much worse and please hurry up with the ambulance, and again they told me that they were very busy but someone would be there as soon as they could.

I'd left the Muppet with the ex while I made the call, and when I went back to check how he was doing I found him even more 'twisted' and almost incomprehensible. I realized that this was something far more than three pints of lager and so I searched his pockets and bag.
It was in the bag that I found a bottle containing some methadone.
Suddenly everything became clear and I called the ambulance services yet again and once more told them that he was getting far, far worse and that his breathing was unstable due to the methadone.

They asked me how much he'd taken and I explained that I didn't know but please would they hurry up with the ambulance as an overdose really isn't too good for a person, especially of a drug that supresses the 'breathing mechanism' of the brain.

The call operator told me to get the muppet onto his back and so the ex and I dragged him off the sofa while supporting his head and checked his breathing again. It was extremely shallow so I told the operator who told me the ambulance was on its way.

By this time his breathing was almost non-existant so the ex started to rub the muppet's chest while I kept a check on his airway. The operator was still on the line and was telling me what to do but suddenly the breating stopped. For a second I blanked but then luckily all my first aid training from years ago kicked in and the ex and I started CPR.

We got him breathing again and I told the operator and once again asked where the hell the ambulance was as this was really rather an emergency and we'd already been waiting rather a long time* I kept the phone line open and stared at the muppet. Each time it looked as though he wasn't going to take a breath I pulled his hair or punched him until I got a response and a 'snore' and it seemed like an eternity until at last a paramedic came in to help.

As I was holding the muppet's head I stayed next to him while the paramedic got his kit out and I explained what had happened. I helped him get the oxygen mask on the muppet's face and got as much of me clear of the defibrillator as I could as the paramedic got out a hyperdermic with the OD 'antidote' into the muppet's bloodstream.
All I remember was staring at the muppet and willing him not to die until the amblulance crew arrived and I was made redundant.

I showed them the bottle and told them what had occured and they reckon me must have taken the methadone while I was upstairs for a moment. The paramedic gave the muppet another couple of injections and at last he began to come round and say the he was fine; he'd just had a bit too much to drink.

They carted him off in the ambulance and shortly after, Rikaitch gave me a lift to the hospital to drop off the muppet's phone and check how he was doing. When I saw him he was concious again and he apologized saying once more that he didn't know what had happened. I explained that he'd very nearly died from an overdose and that he was lucky that the ex and I knew what to do else he might still have been unconsious or worse, dead.

As I left the hospital I saw the paramedic sitting in his car outside so I went to talk to him. I asked how close the muppet had been and he replied that he'd got there just in time it was only a matter of minutes before the muppet would have died. I thanked him and shook his hand before heading back home to see my friends.

I do not like 'interesting times'.

*Rikaitch told me that it took about thirty minutes from the first call for the ambulance to arrive.