Totally Frenched Out

From the blogger formerly known as Samdebretagne

Friday, January 18, 2013

Mind the gap (literally)

So before I left for Bulgaria this week, I trekked all the way over to La Défense (reminds me of when we used to meet up there Crystal!) in order to buy a crock pot.  I had originally purchased one maybe 18mo ago from 3suisses, and the darn thing would crack after only a few uses.  I kept asking for a refund each time, but instead 3suisse would just send me a new one, and wash, rinse & repeat X 4. The fifth time was a charm, and I finally got a refund after saying I was worried about the fire hazard their poorly-made product was bringing into my home. (Though as a side note, they didn't tell me they were sending a refund check, so I sat there waiting for a new crock pot for weeks on end until one day the check just showed up in the mail - Eff you 3suisses and your crappy customer service).

But that still meant I needed a new crock pot.  So I started looking around online, and the one I wanted was 100€. I'd only been reimbursed 50€ for the old one, and given we are in mega-savings mode, I didn't want to spend a fortune, so I decided to wait until after Christmas to see if one popped up online as an unwanted Christmas gift.  And lo and behold, there was my crock-pot, brand-new and at the price I wanted, so I set up a time to meet the owner at LD to pick it up.

On my way back, I transferred at Concorde to the line 12.  As I was entering the metro car, someone bumped me from behind and I got caught slightly off-balance. So instead of landing on the floor, my foot went straight down through the space between the car and the quay.

Yep, you read that right. 

I ended up on one knee, with the other leg dangling in the hole. On top of that, the crock pot had fallen out of the bag.  I froze for a second, panicking about the doors closing on me, but then all of the sudden, everyone around me reacted and I felt several arms lifting me up and into the car.  As the doors closed, a fellow-passenger had the foresight to quickly grab the crock pot box and scoot that inside too.

We all just kind of looked at each other for a second, and then the panic wore off and the mortification filled in. Like omg, I cannot believe that just happened to me.  I thanked everyone around me, but all of the sudden their Parisian faces were back on and everyone was just pretending that nothing had happened.  Tant mieux.

I'd like to pretend nothing happened either....and I would, except I have an eggplant-sized bruise going down one side of my leg and a bunch of scrapes going up the other side.  My only saving grace was that my shoe did not fall off.  You see, it had already semi-fallen off twice that day just during walking, and by some miracle, it did not fall down on to the tracks.  It was bad enough being *that girl* without having to go through the humiliation of having to make the rest of the trip home with only one shoe.  Between my big Carrefour bag, my messed-up hair, and a missing shoe, I would have looked like a right bag lady! 

Just another glamorous day in Paris...


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10 Comments:

Blogger Cyndi said...

Much better they help and then pretend they didn't see anything than they watch your leg get severed while they film it on their cell phones.

A bit of humiliation is good for us. Or that's what I told myself as I explained that I was fine, it was just a small fall to the people who saw me sitting on the icy pavement this morning.

I'm also glad your crockpot made it.

January 18, 2013 at 2:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad you are ok.
Let us know what you make in the crock��
Linda

January 18, 2013 at 3:20 PM  
Blogger Gwan said...

Oh no, glad you're okay apart from bruised legs and feelings. I agree with Cyndi too - some of the things I see online that people have filmed for the amusement of the whole world (e.g. people with obvious mental illness etc.) are just awful, makes me sick.

January 18, 2013 at 4:41 PM  
Blogger Canedolia said...

My friend saw a really bad accident where this happened and nobody helped, so my heart was in my mouth reading this. Glad you are ok and that people were nice to you, even if they pretended they hadn't been!

January 18, 2013 at 5:03 PM  
Blogger Crystal said...

Omg that's so scary! I'm glad you are ok (minus the bumps and bruises). I hope that new crock pot is damn well worth the near death experience.

I also find it a bit unsettling that you'll now associate La Défense with me AND falling under a train.

P.S. I need a crockpot. Pinterest tells me so.

January 18, 2013 at 7:34 PM  
Blogger Bossi said...

That must have been so frightening. I'll bet you went into a bit of shock afterwards. Hope your leg gets better very soon.

January 18, 2013 at 8:23 PM  
Blogger Megan said...

oh my gosh. Lucky your leg didn't get stuck and then the car started to move... Glad to know that in the case of an emergency, even Parisians will help.

January 19, 2013 at 12:42 PM  
Blogger Sally said...

What a scary experience! Glad you are OK, other than the bruises and blushes.
I have no idea what a crock pot is so am about to look it up on the internet! :-)

January 20, 2013 at 2:22 AM  
Blogger Teh Tarik or St Emilion? said...

I know how you feel. Last July after an evening of picnic fun at Champs de Mars, we were running (as usual) to get onto our Transilien to avoid missing the last suburban train back. I was certain that it was the right train so I hopped onto the train (it started beeping at that time) but the Bf wasn't sure so I stepped and let two guys in (who were also running behind us) and assured him that it was the right one. Only problem - I did not pay attention to the huge gap between the train and the quai while re-entering so I fell down. Blacked out for the 2-3 seconds that it happened, the two guys helped me up while my bf was in daze. Cried in the train because I was traumatised and was left with an ugly bruise the size of my face for more than 3 months. Horrible.

January 21, 2013 at 12:19 AM  
Blogger The Paris Chronicles said...

Oh, no. I'm glad it is mostly your pride which is bruised, although I can imagine your leg really hurts. I kept thinking you were leading up to a pickpocketing story, with the "bumper" doing this intentionally. Glad that didn't happen!

January 21, 2013 at 10:54 AM  

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