Twist of fate: Holt won’t let broken leg stop him
Whatever you do, don’t use Coun. Chris Holt’s current method of increasing work efficiency.
The first-term councillor broke his leg two weeks ago slipping on ice. He took his first-ever sick day from council meetings shortly after the accident — he missed one before while on a conference trip — but returned to city council Tuesday night, crutches and all.
How has he been? He says he has never managed more city work.
“I’m probably the best-researched councillor on the planet right now,” Holt joked this week, sitting on his porch with his leg in a cast and a council report on his lap. “I honestly enjoy doing this stuff and now I have more time.”
Before his accident, Holt worked 40 hours a week at the Ford engine plant, and estimates about 40 hours a week on council duties.
He obviously cannot work on the line in a cast, so he has been at home recuperating, often reading reports and talking to constituents.
Finding extra time to analyze reports came with a price, of course. The 49-year-old councillor came out of his house early Feb. 1 destined for the plant after a snowfall, marvelling at the wonder of his neighbourhood.
“We had just had this gorgeous snowfall and it was beautiful in Walkerville,” he recalled. “So I’m walking out at 6 o’clock in the morning heading to work. You couldn’t hear a thing with all the fresh snow on the branches. It looked like a tunnel going down Chilver to Willistead Park.
“I’m looking around thinking, ‘I’m so lucky to live in this neighbourhood.’”
Lucky, except for the ice. The downspout from his house and the neighbouring one empties onto his driveway and the water froze overnight, under the new snow.
“I was walking up the driveway and my foot twisted around,” said Holt, who hit the ground hard but who didn’t think he had done any real damage. “I honestly thought I just twisted my ankle. It wasn’t that painful.”
So he called work to say he couldn’t make it that day. The next day he went to a fracture clinic. It turns out he tore tendons in his right ankle. Worse, he also snapped his fibula, the smaller bone in the calf.
So he will be out of commission for at least three more weeks — sort of.
“I’m not going to miss anymore council meetings,” he said. “The worst part is sitting with my leg not elevated because my foot starts to swell.
“But I don’t mind. I want to go to council.”
I was walking up the driveway and my foot twisted around... I honestly thought I just twisted my ankle. It wasn’t that painful.