It took a year, but I finally "fall down and go boom".

The weather up here this winter has been a bit odd. After the usual cold spell in December, things got warm here towards the end of January, and the snow melted. Then it got cold again, as expected, and the melt froze up. So I started wearing slip on cleats over my boots and got around well enough, but then we got a light snow of about an inch or so. It was a dry snow, so it stayed loose on top of the ice.

I took a stroll shortly after the snow fell, wearing my cleats as usual, and found that the snow was just deep enough to prevent my cleats from touching the ice. Dry snow is a lot like marbles, and so with my cleats and my tread loaded up, I, um, inverted mid air, and landed on my shoulders.

Nice to know some things you never forget. On the way down, I instinctively threw back my arms, slapping the ground as my legs splayed out above my head. It stung my hands when they clapped down on the cold hard surface (1 inch of loos snow is grossly insufficient to absorb the impact of a 260 load). But other than straining my gut muscles a bit, I was none the worse. I got up laughing, more to assure my wife who saw the whole thing from behind, that I did not need her to call an ambulance.

We headed to the pub and after a beer and another good laugh, the incident was put behind us. But I learned that you can't rely on cleats in the snow. If you don't know (or realize) what's under it, you better watch your step.