I got thinking about ongevallen when a colleague phoned me the other day from home saying she had fallen over her dog and torn some ligaments. At the same moment, I had in fact been reading about the unfortunate Alexander De Croo under the headline ADC rolt het ziekenhuis uit – ADC rolls out of hospital. The young leader of the Flemish Liberals took a tumble, with his horse Chronos landing on top of him: hij brak daarbij zijn rechtervoet en zijn elleboog – he broke his right foot and his elbow. And this on top of losing the election.

And, in a recent newspaper, the front page shows the Flemish minister-president, Kris Peeters, letting his stick take the weight months after he broke his hip when he fell from his horse. A quick glance at the calendar reveals that there is only one Friday the 13th this year, and that‘s in August, so other forces must be at work.

Once you start looking, you find accidents all around. Take the jogger out improving her health who got hit by a train at a level crossing. She got off lightly: een armbreuk – a broken arm and een gebroken wervel – a broken vertebra.

Even when you think you’re in good hands, accidents are lurking, as a local headline related: Zieke vrouw valt uit rolstoel in ziekenwagen – Sick woman falls out of wheelchair in ambulance. And it’s not funny: she was black and blue, her chair is zwaar beschadigd – badly damaged – and, to make matters worse, the ambulance service refuses to buy her a new chair.

Too many times you read about “zwaargewond na een ongeval – seriously injured after an accident”. Occasionally, the only damage is blikschade – dents (“tin damage”). Strangely, hospitals report fewer patients in their A&E departments when the moon is full. (Probably due to the increased light rather than some mystical reason.)

The good news for us as we head for the beach is that in the holiday period spoedgevallen – emergency cases – also drop: lying on the beach is a relatively safe non-activity, if you discount sunburn, jellyfish and 13 August. So, Alexander is on the mend and ready to take to his rolstoel to join discussions on the forming of a federal government. As for Chronos, there’s no word on his condition after the ongeval, but, usually, no news is good news.