So, the culinary craze this Christmas was a whole Serrano or Parma Ham leg - the centre piece for any big family Christmas buffet. We were sold on the idea. We were feeding the masses over Christmas so why not have a huge piece of cured meat and attempt to slice it into those micro thin wafer slices you get at the local deli? Hmmmmm. All fingers survived Christmas, and were well intact till the new year, until on one of our many eat up the rest of the fridge evenings in early January, hubby slices finger with a super sharp knife when supposed to be slicing said ham. Parma ham For those of you who have been to a Mini First Aid class, can you remember what to do with a deep cut that is bleeding heavily? Apply pressure with something clean and absorbent (in our case a 'birdlife of Yorkshire' tea towel) and raise the injured area above the heart level. Maintaining pressure stems the blood flow, and raising the injured area slows down the flow of blood to the wound. In more serious cases of bleeding, to prevent shock, lay the casualty down with their feet raised and call 999. Despite the pressure, this deep cut continued to bleed. Our lovely neighbour was extracted from his Sunday evening in front of the TV to provide a taxi service to St James' A&E. You could in this instance use an NHS out of hours centre, but it was 10pm and all were closed. 4 Hours later, the finger is glued (literally) and dressed. The healing is brilliant. Thank you NHS (and Jon our neighbour). Needless to say, the offending Ham is resting in wait at the back of the fridge. Mini First Aid classes cover Emergency First Aid for babies and children (and you learn some about grown ups too) www.minifirstaid.co.uk