Saturday, January 31, 2009

Unexpected.

It’s another beautiful sunny day here and while I was out for a run I was distracted by the birds and helicopters that filled the sky. Looking up rather than ahead, I tripped over some loose gravel and fell into the street. I managed a full roll before coming to a stop, sprawled in the middle of the road.

The guards were not expecting this from me (you could even say they were caught off-guard) and didn’t really know how to react. Should they come over and help? But this would mean leaving their posts, was that okay? Was I a threat? Should they draw their weapons?

Before they had much of a chance to decide I had picked myself up off the ground and was waving and smiling at them. This is pretty much what I do to anyone here carrying a weapon to let them know not to shoot me. The guards looked at me and then each other, one shrugged and they turned back to their lookouts as I headed back down the street.

5 comments:

Lydia said...

Oooh, pun points for "caught off-guard"!

Mike said...

i'm going to try this in front of diplomatic security today and see what happens.

Adam said...

Don't forget to wave and smile. That's a very important part.

Stefanie said...

I once fell in front of the White House and the fuzz just looked at me. They are a really nice bunch of guys.

Adam said...

These guys were nice too, but they don't speak any English and the can be pretty jumpy.