Tripping (Pt 1)

In yesterday's RPN I alluded to my hazardously clumsy nature. B recommended that I post what happened to me recently at the office because inevitably, that would put a smile on the faces of those who cruise this little blog.

I was rushed and had to get somewhere immediately. En route, I stopped in one of the doorways and spoke with a fellow colleague. After turning away from her and putting my body in motion to get to said destination...

Oh! I should tell you what I was wearing. I like high heels. I also like pants that are cuffed at the bottom. So: I was wearing high heels and cuffed dress pants.

Back to the story at hand. I turned around, said hello to another colleague facing me, and started to move forward. Actually, it was only the top half of my body that started moving forward. From the look on my colleague’s face, I knew that something was amiss in my behaviour because he instinctively looked terrified.

Before I could understand what was happening, I found that I was trying – in vain – to move my legs and feel the ground beneath my well-heeled feet, but I couldn’t. They were completely bound and I was air borne. I knew that I was moving my feet and I could feel that my legs were in some kind of motion, but what that motion was, I wouldn’t know until later.

I flew forward, directly toward my colleague and landed on my tummy, on the ground. Had he been standing closer, I would have actually driven my face into his chest and probably broken my nose. Instead, I skipped across the ground like one of those stones cool people throw on the surface of water.

I lay there for a few moments, then turned over and started howling with laughter because I saw the look on my colleague’s face. He was completely mortified, thinking I was unconscious.

What really happened was: My left heel made its way into my right cuff. So when I thought it was firmly placed on the ground, it was…but only it was via my right cuff.

When I went to lift my right foot, I also lifted my left foot and so while moving forward (at my usual rapid pace), and expecting to land on my right foot, I inadvertently took both feet out from under me and had no choice but to land on my stomach.

You should try it some time, maybe at a party where you’re trying to impress someone. It really is a neat trick.

All around the office was a small little picture of a stick person tripping. The caption read: Danger: Tripping Hazard! and the graphic artists in my area inserted: (or maybe it's just Maha.)