One of the last survivors of the Australian troops in WWI has just died. Corporal Ted Smout lied about his age to join up, served at:

He served also at Armentieres, Messines, and Ypres; on the Amiens front and in the advance to Peronne and the Hindenburg line. But Passchendaele, with the bomb, the mud, the great rats and all-pervading lice, he found the worst.

After all that and a further 80 years or so this happens:

before his 105th birthday, his grandfather clock had not fallen on him while he was resetting its weights. He was pinned for 20 minutes before he could seek help, and lost much blood.

Makes me wonder whether there’s not some gremlins out there determined to make a mockery of our lives.