To cut a long story short, just moments ago I stepped right over an open manhole without realising it was there :eek:
Bit shocked when I realised what I’d done…it was about a 15ft drop into a sewage tunnel.
The area is safe now, and due to the specifics of how it happened no-one should be sued etc.
Wow, indeed!
I am glad that you weren’t pitched down into the muck possibly fracturing bones and/or inducing tissue trauma as well as inflicting likely organ impacting trauma through the impact.
You have to tell us more of how you came upon this open manhole.
Ok, I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested to know the details.
One of the guys that lives in the same apartment block asked for some assistance.
He said he’d lost his keys through a grate out back.
So I went with him and at one point he stops and just says “Hey! Careful!” like that – which apparently meant: “Watch out for the fucking open hole in front of you!” (he’d removed the grate).
But as he said it, I was navigating a minor obstacle, and thought that’s what he was referring to…
It’s only after, as he was climbing down into the hole (there were handgrips down one side), that it dawned on me what had just happened.
I rarely get pissed about anything, and I was pretty shocked anyway, so I just told him what almost happened and he just said “Oh, shit, sorry”, and that was that.
Damn.
That kind of thing must go on all of the time and the only reported incidents are when someone isn’t really quick on their feet like you were.
Well, at least you have a cool story to wow the ladies with.
Hey, c’mon that’s not fair…
I didn’t say it was a cool story…just mundane pointless stuff I felt the need to share 
I wasn’t trying to be mean.
It is a cool story because you didn’t get hurt.
Oh ok. Gotten too used to snark on these boards.
(I don’t mind snide remarks though, it’s partly what makes these forums so readable).
And so, comedy was averted.
Glad neither of you were hurt.
A lot of municipalities aren’t installing rungs in manholes anymore. The atmosphere down there is really corrosive (hydrogen sulfide), and the rungs tend to crumble away pretty quickly. Workers going down are generally required to be lowered in a harness via tripod, even if the rungs appear to be safe. That is, AFTER they check the atmosphere to make sure the air is safe to breathe and not liable to explode. :eek:
Happens in Bangkok periodically, people falling into open manholes or other openings in the dark or hidden by rainwater. Even happened to a Bangkok governor once while he was out on an inspection. 
Good luck trying to sue anyone over here, though.
That makes me kinda mad - people do wildly dangerous, unsafe things, and think nothing of leaving it lying there for someone else to stumble over (or into). A dangerous thing like that should not be left unattended or left open with no barriers around it, and if you were injured, that would be a case where I think you actually should sue - people need to use their freaking brains. If he had no way of putting barriers around it, he shouldn’t have been opening it.
He’s lucky he didn’t drop it and mash a finger or two off. (Not you Mijin, the other guy.)
If it was a grate and not a round cover, surely it was a storm drain not a sanitary sewer?
Did the chap find his keys?
Keep a lookout for falling pianos overhead, too.
How will the ladies find that story impressive? After all…he missed the hole.
You’re probably right.
I said grate / manhole for simplicity’s sake; it was actually a solid, rectangular covering which had a handy slot in the middle through which his keys had apparently fallen.
He retrieved his keys; he appeared (and smelled) like shit which is why I thought it was a sewer, but I don’t know.
:eek: How scary! What a bit of dumb luck that you completely missed that hole!
Mijiin, you have to count your lucky stars it wasn’t a ladyhole. They’re much easier to slip into.
Yeah, it’s only in Japan that the ladies love hearing about men slipping into manholes.
My dad (who had just retired from the army) fell through a manhole cover in Russia.
I’m sure there’s a perfect Dope-ish joke in that… I’ll leave it to your ingenuity!
Happened to a friend of mine in Hong Kong. A bunch of us were walking along talking together, and he was chatting, and suddenly… he wasn’t there any more. The hole was about 8 feet deep, and the bottom was spiked with vertical pipes. Thankfully he missed them all, and landed in between them, on his feet. We were able to lean in, grab his hands, and haul him out. He was in a bit of a state for the rest of the evening, and had a badly jarred back. Again, try suing anyone over that.