Phone Calamity
It had to happen. Eventually, there was no way out. The good things is, we're in Spain. People might hem and haw for a bit, but the stone bridge will remain as it is. Which is good, because it's a monument. I suppose up till now no one had decided to deface it with railings because it is quite wide and old, probably from the fifteenth or sixteenth century. It used to be the route along which the carriage went from the manor house to the church, some streets away. It's about as wide as a one-way street, and it's now pedestrian. No one has to step to the side to let a carriage go by these days. What they should put up all around it, though, are signs at phone level to warn pedestrians.
Those signs should be low down on the ground, really. Or at the right height and distance that anyone looking down at their phone will catch the sign out of the corner of their eye. Otherwise they won't work. Then again, if the person is so wrapped up in his phone, the same thing will happen again that happened to a woman this week. The surprise is that we haven't heard of other similar occurrences yet.
The woman must have been having a very interesting message chat as she was walking near the convent of Vista Alegre in Vilagarcía de Arousa last Tuesday. So much so that as she was walking she had no idea of where she was as she texted, and walked straight off the stone bridge that leads to the convent and old manor house. She just dropped off the side of the bridge, giving heart attacks to the people around her. Luckily for the woman, the river Con was full that evening, as the tide was in, and it's a tidal river for most of its urban meandering. Also, it's not very deep when it's full, especially when it hasn't been raining lately, as is the case this week. So, the worst that happened to her was that she got soaking wet. Once she got her footing, though, she had to wait for the firefighters to come take her out. It was a cold evening, and she must have shivered plenty and given a castanet concert with her chattering teeth as the police escorted her home, which happened to be nearby.
I'm sure that from now on, whenever she has a mesmerizing conversation, that she will stand still in one spot on the sidewalk until she finishes. Lesson learned. I hope.
Those signs should be low down on the ground, really. Or at the right height and distance that anyone looking down at their phone will catch the sign out of the corner of their eye. Otherwise they won't work. Then again, if the person is so wrapped up in his phone, the same thing will happen again that happened to a woman this week. The surprise is that we haven't heard of other similar occurrences yet.
The woman must have been having a very interesting message chat as she was walking near the convent of Vista Alegre in Vilagarcía de Arousa last Tuesday. So much so that as she was walking she had no idea of where she was as she texted, and walked straight off the stone bridge that leads to the convent and old manor house. She just dropped off the side of the bridge, giving heart attacks to the people around her. Luckily for the woman, the river Con was full that evening, as the tide was in, and it's a tidal river for most of its urban meandering. Also, it's not very deep when it's full, especially when it hasn't been raining lately, as is the case this week. So, the worst that happened to her was that she got soaking wet. Once she got her footing, though, she had to wait for the firefighters to come take her out. It was a cold evening, and she must have shivered plenty and given a castanet concert with her chattering teeth as the police escorted her home, which happened to be nearby.
I'm sure that from now on, whenever she has a mesmerizing conversation, that she will stand still in one spot on the sidewalk until she finishes. Lesson learned. I hope.
 |
| From La Voz de Galicia, Jan. 4, 2017. |
Comments
Post a Comment