I was leaving the park after jogging round a couple of laps, in a fair degree of pain, when a puppy came bounding towards the hedge. Didn't notice me - had eyes only for some indeterminate glittery / feline thing in the bushes. It became clear that if we both stayed on our current route there was going to be a collison, so at the last minute I skidded to a stop and tried to skip round the back of the dog. Of course, faced with an arm-flailing human in a bright red t-shirt almost on top of it (despite it not having noticed me in the slightest beforehand), the dog slammed on the anchors too and I ended up doing a strange kind of steeplechase-style straddle jump over the dog's arse.
I did the only thing I could do - i.e. tutted loudly, shook my head vigorously and muttered 'fugsake!' as I continued out through the park gate. It only took a few steps for it to sink in what a tool I probably seemed, getting all up myself about the fact a dog was on the path. In a park. Who'd have seen that coming?
Thankfully, I was snapped out of my mood within a few seconds. A family was coming the other way along the pavement, and when I looked up I noticed the little boy and girl - probably around 3 or 4 years old - both imitating my running style and grinning their wee heads off as I passed. Even I'm not that much of a grouch, and smiled back as they mock-powered their way past me. And I have to admit, I hope that they were accurate in their portrayal of me. Not a bad looking technique, if I do say so myself.
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