the unexpected perils of winter sport

We went ice skating at the seasonal downtown rink last night. It was the grand opening of the rink, the first night, so they had these balloon arches over the rink. The wind was blowing. On my first or second trip around the rink, while I was trying to get accustomed to my skates, ahem, I was looking down a little bit and suddenly I felt as if I was being strangled and then my progress came to an abrupt halt. I grabbed for my neck where the pressure was and realized I'd been clotheslined by the stupid balloon arch!!! It had dipped to neck level in the wind. I grabbed it off over my head and managed not to fall, but it was...somewhat disconcerting at worst and embarrassing at best. I yelled, "Where did that thing come from?" and one of the employees looked at me apologetically. The next thing I knew, another one was taking the arches down. I said to him, "Hey, did you see that thing clothesline me?" He said, "No.....but I heard." "Is that why you're taking it down?" "Yep." I felt so powerful. I was glad nobody mentioned that maybe I should have been looking AHEAD of me, like where I was actually skating, rather than down at my feet. Ah, the little perks of the tort-litigious society.