Friday, November 16, 2007

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.

7 comments:

Lisa said...

Hey, Anya, you should have been looking where you were going.

Gina said...

Hi friend...I found you off of your SIL's blog. Hope you've recovered from you near strangulation.

Blogball said...

Did you know by not avoiding the balloons because you were not looking where you were going that the guy that put up the balloon arch was fired on his very first day of work and then became very depressed and left his wife and three children to become an alcoholic? Now how do you feel?

Happy Birthday! said...

Thanks, Lis. :) Hi, Gina! Nice to see ya. Yeah, I think I'm gonna make it. Wow, Blogball, now I feel terrible. I think I'm going to sue him for making me feel so bad.

Left Coast Sister said...

hey you! Congrats on not falling on your noodle when *not* being clothselined. BTW, in response to your I love ny post, there is an apt exchange site where you can do just that. Our now-London based friends have done that with people from all over, and I think living where you do it would be easy to find someone who'd want to visit. I'll find the site if you don't know it already.
Good to hear you're here!

jay are said...

I think I might've put the clothesline there. Were any of my clothes still on it? I hate when that happens.

Happy Birthday! said...

Hey, left coaster! Good to hear from you.Thanks for the tip on that web site -- I'll check it out posthaste. Ha, Jay Are! There were only balloons, so I don't think it was you this time. Not to mention, have you ever used a clothesline in your life?