Nan/Slippery Manhole Covers

[Guest guest]

Oh, Nan! Thank you for sharing your story! You are amazing that you

are able to keep your sense of humor about you! Guess a guy that has

to be commanded to help couldn't be expected to consider *asking* in

what way help could best be rendered!

Terri Hassiak

BMI 60

http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/profile.phtml?N=H980366398

5/9/01 surgery date CANCELLED due to " Out-of-Network " Ins. Denial

email(no spaces): bunsofluff @ hotmail.com

> Okay -- Now it is time for the story of me, the man hole cover and

the art

> museum.

>

> My friend Carol and I go to the Art Museum in LA from time to time

-- and

> there was this exhibit of 100 years of California art. It was a

lovely

> Saturday, the kind we see in So Cal in late winter from time to

time

-- cool

> and rainy. Carol is this little bitty thing (5'4' maybe, and a

size

12)

> compared to me (5'2 " and a size the tent maker-- at 386,

whaddya expect)

> So we are trucking along down the side walk in the drizzle, me

with

my cane

> for my arthritic knees in one hand, and a brolly in the other hand,

and BAM,

> I am on the ground, hands, knees, brolly and cane. I try to stand

up, and

> BAM, back down. Carol starts to panic -- she can't help me, she is

not strong

> enough -- but she is pushing 60 and is intimidated my nothing

anymore. I am

> finally figuring out the problem is the wet and slippery man hole

cover that

> they thoughtfully put in the middle of the sidewalk- I just can't

get any

> purchase on it. So I am trying to figure out how to get my feet

away from

> the thing and onto nice not slippery concrete. And I am dithering

about the

> brolly rolling on the ground and my cane and what to put in what

hand. Carol

> accosts the male half of a couple who were about to walk around me

and

> pretend I was not there, and says to him " help her up, " in the

commanding

> tone only Mother's and Grandmother's can use -- and to his

surprise,

he does.

>

> But helpful he is not. He grabs my (massive) upper arm and starts

to haul

> away -- and BAM, I am back down. I am saying " wait, wait, I have to

get my

> foot under me " but not only was I invisible before, I am also not

audible.

> And my cane is in the hand of the arm he is hauling on -- so I

can't

use it

> for leverage (although, I might have whacked him with it for being

an idiot)

> And the umbrella is rolling around on the sidewalk and practically

under my

> feet. And Carol is still saying " just help her up " in her

commanding

tone,

> which this guy CAN hear, and ABM, down I go again.

> By the grace of the rain gods, this time I have shifted position

enough that

> both feet are now clear of the very smooth brass man hole cover.

Finally,

> more with my own effort, and shifting my cane to the arm this guy

is

NOT

> hauling on, I rise-damp, bruised, embarrassed, but undaunted. I

thank the

> guy and his girl friend and we all decide it was the man hole cover

that did

> it. " Bad Man Hole Cover " I say.

> It was a very interesting exhibit-- I really enjoyed the 1900 to

1930 segment

> a lot. The Brass man hole cover dated from about then, too.

>

> Nan E. Pre-op in LA