A fall is more embarrassing than painful!

Last week, it snowed almost every day. On one such day, while I was walking to my office, my shoes sank into the snow; I lost my balance and fell. Now, falling over here is never unusual since most of the days I have seen it with other people. The only point I am trying to make is that I have always been on the watching end than the receiving one. Once I felt really sorry for an old lady who could not match upto the nasty wind and fell with a big thud. I rushed and helped her up all the while hearing her swear to herself in words I could never imagine.

The winds during the winter season can be very strong and chilly and that is a part of Toronto’s character. It never gets extremely cold but a small exposure to it can bring a shiver down your spine, it is that strong and frosty. I remember once I chuckled after seeing a lady firmly hugging a tree fearing that the wind would sweep her off. After walking past her and almost loosing my balance, I knew for certain that I underestimated the power of the wind. Morale of the incident? Make firm steps when you walk. Also, hold onto anything if you feel you are loosing your balance. Anything? Hmm that is for you to think wisely! :P

So, back to what I started with. It was a cold morning, misty and white. I just did not feel like getting out of the cozy bed. The alarm which was initially set for 7.30am was snoozed to 8, and then 8.30. At 8.45 I woke up with a start and realized that I was going to be late for work. It was 9.15 when I was fully bundled up and walking to work with every effort onto beating the cold instead of biting it. There’s a short cut which I take every day to reach office as fast as possible. So, basically the actual 20 minute walk is reduced to 10 minutes. If you ask exactly what kind of a short cut it is, I would say cutting across the backyard of another apartment by walking on the snow covered meadow, to reach the walkway which again leads to the highway bridge I have earlier mentioned. That reminds me, if there was no highway the distance to my office would have been just a five minutes walk.

Anyways, standing before the snow covered meadow, I hesitated for a second before I made the leap but it was too late. The damage was done. Before I could blink I knew my legs were totally buried in snow. I should have taken that as a warning and come off but I just went on thinking that I could make it. I struggled with my hands in the air to keep my balance and made it to the edge of the meadow. I felt a severe pain in my legs and realized that my legs hit the cemented edge of the meadow and I fell flat on my back. I could hear someone asking me whether I was ok and needed help. That’s when I realized that my eyes were closed; I was still lying flat and not making any effort to rise. He even asked if I wanted him to call 911. I was totally embarrassed. I got up on my feet with pain but felt more embarrassed to see people coming across to see me. I told the stranger that I was fine and continued walking slowly. I could see the stranger explaining to the others what just happened and all I wished was to just vanish from that area as fast as I could. I never looked back and continued walking, this time faster. I started feeling the pain more after I was settled in my desk. Moral of the incident is never take shortcuts when the snow pile’s height is half your height. :P

Pictures taken on the snow storm days coming up in the next post. Till then take care and have fun.