+1 on doing a first aid course. It's a day or two, it's interesting, and it's a good thing that human beings should be prepared and willing to help one another.

+1 on doing a first aid course. It's a day or two, it's interesting, and it's a good thing that human beings should be prepared and willing to help one another. I'm 41 and I've now twice encountered a situation where I should give first aid. The first time was a fatal collision between a bicyclist and a pedestrian, in an affluent suburb: there were actual doctors working on the pedestrian, so after checking an ambulance had been called, I left – no point in gawking. But I was struck by how little I could have done to help if I'd encountered the accident by myself. So I took a first aid course as soon as I could. A few years later I was cycling and came across a fellow rider who'd come off and landed on his head; he was just lying there in the path. It was amazing how the training kicked in – I checked for danger to myself, established he couldn't respond to me, established he was breathing, carefully put him in the recovery position, used my bike to wall him off a bit so nobody would ride over him, then went for help (I didn't have a phone on me, the one time I happened not to have it!) The injured cyclist was fine in the end, he came around after a few minutes and it was then a matter of persuading him to wait until the ambulance folks arrived; he had no concept that he'd been out for multiple minutes, I think from his perspective it had only been a moment. I'm glad I was able to help though. So yeah, if you are able, do a first aid course.