As luck would have it

Bergen. Winter. Rain. Snow. Rain.

The rain could not melt the packed snow away. It could only turn it into the slickest ice.

I tried to balance in the wind, but the wind caught my coat and I felt myself being pushed along - no way to stop, nothing to hold on to.

I need ice cleats, I thought, as I finally reached the safety of cleared pavement, and my brief moment of panic was over.

I made it safely to the bus stop by our mall for my errand to the post office. I had just missed a bus, as luck would have it. As I waited for the next one, one senior citizen after another came to the stop, and soon they were discussing cleats. One was wearing the sports model, one that lets you jog in ice and snow. I listened to their discussion, noticed the brand name, noted the comment about size necessary, and noted which store sold them. I got all the information I needed to get ice cleats.

I kept company with one of the women since she too was going to the post office. We also waited for the return bus together, and a third woman joined us, telling us how she'd just slipped on the ice.

Back at the mall, I went straight to the shop that sells the cleats. I have a common shoe size and not only the store, but the factory was sold out of that size, I was told. But one customer had a pair in my size on lay-away. The store clerk called that customer, who decided not to buy them. As luck would have it! I now own a pair of ice cleats.

Comments

Paula said…
Nice. I hate slipping on ice. It's the most out of control feeling.

It's amazing to me lately how so much really comes down to chance.
Keera Ann Fox said…
I prefer Jung's term "synchronicity": Coincidences with happy meaning. :-)
throckey said…
I have these. The YakTrax Pro. we have a ski lodge which we have to walk a bit in to get to, and the track can be pretty icy, so it's nice to have sure footing, especially when you are carrying a heavy load.

I watched a bunch of people take a fall in the ski area parking lot this weekend. It was a solid sheet of ice. It reminded me of how painful it is to fall that way. I'm pretty athletic in terms of my dynamic balance, so it's happened once in so 44 years of wandering around in icy parking lots, but that once was enough.
alice said…
Very cool footwear! I could have used them myself in the past week...
Zuzana said…
Oh, one of my friends fell on the icy sidewalk and twisted his ankle and knee on New Years Eve. It was around that time it was crazy slippery here. Also when the snow melted about a week ago it became almost impossible to walk in front of our houses.;)
Hope you can now walk safely with your new cleats.;)
xoxo
Keera Ann Fox said…
Thanks for the comments, Paula, Throckey, Alice and Zuzana! With its usual fondness for irony, Fate arranged to have so much rain, all the ice and snow melted, so I have yet to try my cleats!

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