Close call

The other day I witnessed perhaps the most fantastic balance recovery ever. This disaster could have been epic. I'll set the scene.

I boarded the train at Metro Center, after letting two blind passengers on first. The passengers took the two handicap seats next to the middle entrance of the car. Normally I don't take note of handicapped passengers, but two blind passengers were something to note because it was such a rare occurrence. We were riding jauntily along to National Airport. A guy boarded the train along with three extremely packed pieces of luggage, plus a large laptop bag. He made camp by the entrance way, easily within falling distance of the blind couple, and proceeded to try to balance himself as the train continued.

The rule of thumb is, one hand for you and one hand for the boat, er train. Clearly, this had the potential to be a recipe for catastrophe if the train had had to make a sudden stop or rocked from side to side. Sure enough, the train stopped suddenly. The passenger with the bags adopted the position of having the laptop bag resting on his luggage while reading his email on his Blackberry. He didn't have a hand to support himself, violating the common sense rule. He began to fall over his suitcases and laptop bag, in the direction of the blind couple. In the course of his fall, his extremely top heavy bags started to fall towards the couple as well. Fortunately, this guy was blessed with the balance of a gazelle or something because not only did he save his baggage from falling into the blind couple, but he managed to recover himself as well. Truly a remarkable athletic feat. My hat is off to you sir, whoever you are. Job well done.