A PENSIONER with a penchant for poetry has penned a new rhyme, inspired by a fall in which she broke her arm.

Ethel Dyall, 84, of Templeton Avenue, Chingford, first turned to poetry after another fall in April left her trapped in her toilet for nine hours.

But despite her uncomfortable ordeal, Mrs Dyall saw the funny side of her accident and came up with the poem, Ethel's Dilemma, as a way to pass the time.

And she even managed to keep her sense of humour after tripping in her bedroom two weeks ago – and breaking her funny bone.

Mrs Dyall said: “I was having some work done on my house and there was scaffolding going up.

“It was so dark and depressing and I was fed up, so I gave myself a pep talk and told myself to liven up my ideas.”

She decided to try to cheer herself up by going upstairs to fix her hair and make-up, but tripped, leaving her with the injury.

Luckily, she was able to reach her panic alarm and avoided spending another nine hours trapped in her home.

Mrs Dyall said: “I didn't have to wait very long. I wasn't trapped – I just couldn't get up.

“I didn't write the poem for myself – there are so many people out there that are depressed and I wanted to show them if they make a joke of it, they can lighten the gloom.”

The mother-of-five and grandmother-of-ten was treated at Whipps Cross University Hospital and is now back at home, recovering.

She added: “It is still very, very painful, but it's not in a plaster cast because of the position it was in.

“My fingers are all right though and I can still play the piano.”

Her poem, a follow up to Ethel's Dilemma, is entitled Ethel's Pride Before a Fall.

An extract from the poem

They think it's my funny bone

That's damaged so I will not moan

But laugh instead, it's so ironic

Laughter is the world's best tonic