Thank you cellphone (and Big Jim)

*They* always say that things happen when you least expect, and that if you have a bike accident it'll be 4 blocks from your home JUST after you had decided (yes foolishly, I admit) to take off your helmet because you're "only 7 blocks from home".
Yesterday morning I remember thinking, as I was biking home from downtown Vancouver, about how great the bike streets are, and oh my aren't I feeling hot after this long ride, and since I'm almost home, I'm just going to take my helmet off and get a little breeze.
Then I remember jerking my bike, something getting caught, me flying off the bike, and the sound of pavement hitting my head. The rest of the morning was sort of a blur. I've taken many first aid courses in my life and yet couldn't determine what I should do after the incident so I moved to the curb and just noticed the large amount of blood staining the street. Someone drove by and asked if I needed an ambulance and in shock I replied "no worries, I can't afford an ambulance, I live close by". They drove off apparently satisfied.
I did have enough wit to then pull out my cellphone (a device I have been known to scoff at in the past and am now forced to praise) and with shaky hands call my hero, Big Jim.
Lindsay - I've fallen. My head is bleeding
James - Put something on the bleeding.
Right...I remember now. Good suggestion.
I was more like a damsel-going-into-shock than distress, and he arrived in a black truck rather than on a white stallion (and if he had arrived on a stallion this would have indicated that I was moving into advance stages of shock), but he was the hero nonetheless.
After a fair amount of drama at the hospital (they were very good to me at VGH), James drove me home battered by the pavement but relatively unharmed.
The world still insists on changing its orientation when I change elevation (ie sit-up), my fractured shoulder blade hurts like... a fracture, my elbow feels and looks gruesome, and my body aches, especially on my right side, but on the whole everything is fine.

Lesson 1: Always, even 7 blocks away on a safe street, wear your helmet (perhaps not avoiding broken bones, but definitely lessening head injuries).

Lesson 2: When someone is sitting on the road with blood running down their face they are probably entering stages of shock. Don't believe people who insist they are fine directly after an incident. Shock can kill after even the smallest injury. Learning how to lesson shock and how to recognize it is probably the best first aid knowledge you can have.

Lesson 3: The bike streets of Vancouver are great to travel (and fall) on as they have bike traffice lights and very little car traffic.