Slip Sliding Away...

As a mail carrier who walks 12 plus miles a day on my route, with winter now in full swing, in spite of what the song on the radio says, it's not necessarily "the most wonderful time of the year". Regardless of what a postal route inspector told me a few years ago, walking in December in Wisconsin is NOT the same as walking in July. You see, there's this crazy little thing called ICE, that forms when the old mercury drops below the mailman's Mendoza line of 32 degrees F and it can make life for folks like me miserable with a capital M! Most of you know what I mean on a somewhat smaller scale, dealing with the slippery adversary while heading out to your car in a parking lot or perhaps going outdoors for a walk on a brisk winter day. Now multiply that little sojourn by about 1000 and you may get a feel for what I deal with every day walking my route. Most folks are pretty good about trying to keep their sidewalks clean, but then again there are always those who can't be troubled with such trivial matters as shoveling their sidewalks. For the most part, the worst sidewalks always seem to be at the houses where the most people live. I guess there too busy inside trying to figure out who the heck all these other people are.

Like most of the trails and tribulations in life, it all depends on how you look at things. Yesterday for example, just up the street from my house, I nearly went on my 57 year old rear end on a guys driveway that for the most part was almost in June like condition. I managed to step on a patch of ice about the size of home plate that caused me to perform a maneuver so complex that I'm not sure if it would have worked better at a gymnastics meet or an ice skating competition. As ice was involved, I guess I'll go with the latter and after further review I believe that the trick I performed in actuality was a completely unrehearsed combination of a double axel and a flying sit spin. Sadly, I do believe the judges would have marked my score down a bit as I had to bounce off of a garage door in order not to go down to the pavement. But down I did NOT go! I maintained my balance, with a bit less dignity the price, and trudged on, for as we all know, the mail must go through! But it sure felt good to get home a few hours later and relax with a nice glass if wine, sure in the knowledge that my work schedule had given me a 4 day reprieve from that crap called ICE!