November 02, 2003
After the Mudrush III
Here's a tip; if you're wandering around drains full of slurry, don't fall in. Ich bein ein gobshite.
It was almost the perfect pratfall. I had just clambered across on of the makeshift dams built to contain further flows of slurry. When I got to the far side (the foreground in the picture below), I stepped off the embankment onto what I thought was the solid ground of the gravel road (there was a tractor parked on it so it seemed solid). PLOOMP - for a split second I wondered when exactly I was going to hit the bottom. It was waist deep. I was stunned - I couldn't have been more surprised if the Invisible Man had strolled up to me and gave me a kick up the arse. Instinctively, I raised my arms up to save my camera (which did survive) - of course, when you're falling forward, raising your arms doesn't help. At least I kept my mouth shut.
The best part was that I still had another 45 minutes of walking around to do (I was on my way down to photograph another bridge). At least I cheered up some of the workmen who had a good laugh. Mercifully, the only two witnesses were two small boys sitting in the tractor. Cute as buttons, they nearly fell out of the cab laughing at me.
I drove home in a state of undress. It occurred to me that if I hit a sheep on the way home, and I had to get out of the car to clear it, and someone came along...I think the judge would just throw away the key...
This dam is downstream of the R353 road.
Posted by Monasette at November 2, 2003 10:48 AM