These prickly balls have been the cause of not one-- but two face plants. I think in my teenage and adult life I have had a total of 3 face plants, the most recent one resulted in a busted lip (but that was not caused by the prickly balls). In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly graceful.
The first incident was senior year in high school on my way to an after school physics tutoring session. By the way, I had a huge crush on my high school physics teacher. I was purposely bad at physics just so I could go to his tutoring lessons. Just kidding. I wish that were the reason. Anyway, it was a cold fall day, much like today, and the prickly balls were scattered all over the ground. Instead of stepping on the the asphalt, I stepped on a prickly ball, lost my balance and got pushed further down with my backpack filled with books. I fell first on my arm, then my face. A freshman basketball player walked up to me and asked if I was okay. Talk about insult to injury. I scraped the back of my arm and I walked into physics tutoring bleeding. My teacher then offered me a Band-aid.
After that first fall can you believe there was a second one? This time in college. That's right folks-- college and I wasn't even drunk. The college campus was filled with trees and you know what that means, prickly balls EVERYWHERE. It was another fall (maybe winter) day and I was walking to my English class and stung by the memory of my high school fall, I kept reminding myself to be careful and not to slip on a prickly ball. Of course that didn't work as I slipped again and this time I fell even harder on my face. I am absolutely certain that I heard a burst of laughter coming from a distance. My face was throbbing and I frantically searched for a bathroom where there would be the least amount of people so I can see if I was bleeding. After I walked through two buildings, I finally found a ladies room to face myself in the mirror. The good news is that I was not bleeding, but my face was beet red and there were tiny rocks lodged between my teeth. Even then I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Soon the sidewalks will be littered with prickly balls again and I will once again be in fear of slipping and face planting whenever I make that walk from my car to my office or even when I'm just out and about.
Beware of the Pricks.
Gorgeous picture! Too bad you don't have a pic of your old physics teacher.
ReplyDeleteI don't really know what to say about this. I had no idea the prickly balls could be so dangerous. I think you might need to get some special footwear.
ReplyDeleteI think they are only dangerous for clumsy people like me.
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