I slipped and fell on the Wilbrod House driveway yesterday. I was walking to the bus stop located right next to the driveway early in the morning (to catch a bus to my French language class in the city), and that's when it happened. I just felt my feet give way under me. I fell heavily on my left side, and now I have a few bruises on my left hip to show for it. Fortunately, I'm no worse for wear. I just have to learn to be more careful next time.
Because the weather has been fine, the snow from the other day melted and turned into a layer of very smooth ice at the end of the driveway leading onto Charlotte Street. It's literally like walking on wet glass (or what I imagine walking on wet glass would be like).
The locals seem to know what to do in this sort of condition - they seem to avoid the areas where the snow has turned into ice. Being a foreigner, I didn't even know what to look out for until yesterday morning. Oh well, another learning experience for me.
On a brighter note, I saw a squirrel out and about, foraging in the snow not far from Wilbrod House. It cheered me up considerably. I wondered where this squirrel was hiding when it snowed the other day ...
I'm still waiting to see the resident raccoon that my housemates tell me lives around here. My landlady hates the creature because it comes around the night before garbage collection day and rummages in the garbage, sometimes scattering garbage all over the street.
(Aside: They don't have wheelie bins here. I guess this is another thing I miss about Australia -- the ubiquitous wheelie bin.)
