I FELL 70ft ONTO CONCRETE

AND SURVIVEDHOLIDAY HORROR!

A PALM TREE SAVED MY LIFE

What is ‘balconing’?

I had been looking forward to this holiday for a long time. A week in Majorca with a few mates

from my rugby team. The beach, palm trees, sun and surf. What could be better? The week started off just as good as I had hoped, days spent by the beach or at the resort swimming pool just sunbathing, drinking and throwing a rugby ball about. It was everything you could want from a lazy holiday in the sun.

DREAM HOLIDAYIn the evenings we would head out into town to sample the nightlife. We would go to a restaurant to have dinner and then go to a few bars. We were six mates on a summer holiday so we were drinking a bit, but nothing too excessive. None of us were throwing up by the side of the road or causing any trouble like you see and hear about. We were good guys. On the evening of our fourth night in Palma Nova we went out and probably had a bit more to drink than usual. We had gotten news that one of our friends from

back home, Nick, was going to have a baby so we had more than a few toasts in honour of him and his family to-be. At about

1am in the morning we got a taxi back to our resort and, still feeling on a high about life in general, we decided to continue the party by having a few beers around the now deserted pool area. Matt and I rushed up to our rooms to get the beers in for everyone.

THE POOLAs we walked there he suddenly shouted, “Race!” and off he went, sprinting as fast as he could toward the lift. Being very competitive by nature, I rushed after him in pursuit. We raced up the stairs but quickly tired and gave up. Seven floors is a long way up and neither our quite drunken legs could be bothered anymore. “I didn’t realise we were so high up”, Matt said, as we reached our rooms and looked out over the resort from the balcony. “Wow, yeah”, I replied. “Look, there are the guys! Quick, pass me the rugby ball.” He threw it to me and I lobbed it down to the rest of our group as they walked round the corner into the main pool area. My mate Jason picked the ball

THE BALCONYup and launched it high into the air back in my direction, I reached out to grab it, but it was coming a little short. As I reached a little further

I nearly fell over the balcony wall. Luckily, I realised just in time and pulled myself back, letting the ball bounce off the wall and drop to the

ground. I didn’t think

too much of it though, I’m a big guy and most things are too small or too short for me so I and was soon back in the pool area and back in the party mood. We were messing about with the rugby ball, throwing, diving and catching it in the pool for a couple of hours before we were all exhausted and ready for bed. We trenched back up the stairs, dripping wet. With the drink wearing off, I was ready for bed. As we got into our rooms I went to the balcony to hang my wet towel on the balcony wall. “Harv!” I turned around at the sound of my name, a rugby ball was flying towards me, I reached my arms high over my head,

leaning back to catch it. Then I lost my footing on the wet floor and tumbled backwards.

I woke up in hospital groggy, in a lot of pain

and my leg in a cast. At first I had no idea what was going on, I was so confused. Then, suddenly, it dawned on me. “I fell”, I said to myself. An English speaking doctor came to me soon after and said, “You are a very, very lucky young man. “I hope you know this, because you should have died. A miracle saved you.” I had two fractures in my leg, he told me, and that they had to put pins in it to correct it. My friends visited me later in the day, they’d been busy letting everyone back home know what had happened. “Mate,” said Matt, “How you feeling?” “What happened?” I asked. “You fell off, mate”. Tom

replied, simply.And then all at once they broke into one chatter and told me what had happened,

they had to be shushed by the nurses and told to leave. From all of their ramblings I pieced together what had happened.

The only reason I survived was because as I fell I hit a sun-shade from a lower balcony which threw me into a palm tree. I was gobsmacked when I heard, luckily I didn’t remember that part otherwise I think I’d have nightmares. I had fallen 70ft and survived with a broken leg and a few cuts and bruises. No wonder the doctor told me I should have died.

A day later a policeman showed up. I had no idea what they were here for but

they were scary. In broken English

he asked me if I was “balconing” when I fell, and he wasn’t very nice about it. I had no idea what it was he was talking about until he explained it to me. When I finally

understood what he was going on about I realised I had heard about it before. “Of course not”, I said, shocked. People jumping

into pools from their rooms. I would never do such a stupidly dangerous thing. Playing rugby on a Sunday is about as risky as it gets for me. So, I explained what really happened and they left to speak to my friends aswell, who told the same story and when they returned the officer was much kinder.

THE SAINT“You are lucky boy” he said. “You have a saint”, he pointed to the roof, “Watching over you, yes?” I smiled weakly and nodded as he left. Maybe I do, but I don’t ever want to be in a position where I have to find out again.

HARVEY HOYTE-BONEAs told to Nathan Holmes

Harvey Hoyte-Bone went on a relaxing holiday to Majorca, but almost came back in a coffin

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