Getting my foot down a storm drain cover

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around humorous and somewhat alarming personal anecdotes related to getting body parts stuck in various situations, including a storm drain cover and a car frame. Participants share their experiences and reflections on the challenges and dangers of such predicaments, often with a comedic tone.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes getting their foot wedged in a storm drain cover and the unconventional methods attempted to free it, including the use of an angle grinder and levers.
  • Another participant humorously expresses concern for the original poster's foot and suggests that their situation could lead to an apocalypse if they teamed up with another participant.
  • A participant shares a similar experience of getting their finger stuck in a car frame while attempting to remove a bolt, highlighting the difficulties faced in such situations.
  • Questions arise about the design of storm drain covers, with one participant expressing disbelief that a foot could get stuck in one.
  • Several participants recount other stories of individuals getting trapped in various situations, often leading to drastic measures like amputations to escape.
  • There is a recurring theme of caution against working alone in potentially hazardous situations, with multiple anecdotes supporting this idea.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally share a humorous tone and agree on the dangers of getting stuck in various situations, but there is no consensus on the specifics of the storm drain cover design or the best methods to avoid such predicaments.

Contextual Notes

Some participants reference personal experiences that may lack detailed context or assumptions about the situations described, leading to varying interpretations of the events.

wolram
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So i was walking along carefree as you like when i came to a sudden stop, i noted that my right foot had wedged in a storm drain cover, no matter how i tried i could not get it free, i decided the only option was to walk 3/4 mile to the industrial estate with the cover attached to my right foot
Arriving at the industrial site i shouted a guy for help, he took one look and went away, seconds later he returned with an angle grinder, within seconds of him stating the the angle grinder my jogging bottoms were on fire, the burns only hurt a little bit.
Two other guys that had been standing by went away and produced 6 foot long levers, but when they applied them the pain was to much.
I decided that the only way to get my foot out was to to take my shoe off, and you know what it worked.
 
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BUWAHAHA! Wolram, you are precious! Hope the foot feels better!
 
wolram said:
So i was walking along carefree as you like when i came to a sudden stop, i noted that my right foot had wedged in a storm drain cover, no matter how i tried i could not get it free, i decided the only option was to walk 3/4 mile to the industrial estate with the cover attached to my right foot
Arriving at the industrial site i shouted a guy for help, he took one look and went away, seconds later he returned with an angle grinder, within seconds of him stating the the angle grinder my jogging bottoms were on fire, the burns only hurt a little bit.
Two other guys that had been standing by went away and produced 6 foot long levers, but when they applied them the pain was to much.
I decided that the only way to get my foot out was to to take my shoe off, and you know what it worked.

Evo said:
BUWAHAHA! Wolram, you are precious! Hope the foot feels better!

Honestly, if you two ever hooked up it would probably instigate some sort of apocalypse.

How's your foot now, Woolie?
 
lisab said:
How's your foot now, Woolie?

Bare?
 
I have to admit that taking your shoe off was the first thing I thought of, but that's okay - lots of people lack experience in sticking their feet down a storm drain cover.

I did run into a similar situation, except worse. I was working on my son's car in the driveway and was exploring the possibility of removing a bolt in his frame. Except I couldn't see where the other end of bolt went, since the other end was inside the hollow frame. So I stuck my finger into a hole in the frame to feel where the bolt went - except it was an extremely tight fit.

Fortunately, going in, the skin stretches the skin tight, so as to make your finger as skinny as possible. Unfortunately, coming out, the skin bunches, making it impossible to get your finger out.

That's why you should never work on a car alone. Now I was lying in the driveway with my finger stuck in the car frame and weighing my options. I could lie there and imagine how handy it would have been to have a bar of soap or some oil or some other lubricant laying nearby - or I could wait until someone walked by my house and tell them I'd gotten my finger stuck in the car and ask for some help - or I could just suck it up and accept the fact that I was going to rip some skin off pulling my finger out of the car.

Somehow, I just couldn't quite imagine myself laying there for who knows how long only to get laughed at.

But I sure wish it happened to someone else and I was the person that happened to walk by.
 
By storm drain cover do you mean something like a syver?
If so, how on Earth did you manage to get your foot stuck in one of those? from the ones I've seen the holes are way too small :eek:

BobG said:
That's why you should never work on a car alone. Now I was lying in the driveway with my finger stuck in the car frame and weighing my options. I could lie there and imagine how handy it would have been to have a bar of soap or some oil or some other lubricant laying nearby - or I could wait until someone walked by my house and tell them I'd gotten my finger stuck in the car and ask for some help - or I could just suck it up and accept the fact that I was going to rip some skin off pulling my finger out of the car.

I read a story about a guy who was doing something to some pipes in his basement and got his arm wedged between some pipes which had hot water running through periodically, he was the only person living at the house and he couldn't get any assistance.. I think he ended up cutting his burned arm off iirc.
I guess keeping a tub of lube on hand at all times could have prevented that.
 
genericusrnme said:
I read a story about a guy who was doing something to some pipes in his basement and got his arm wedged between some pipes which had hot water running through periodically, he was the only person living at the house and he couldn't get any assistance.. I think he ended up cutting his burned arm off iirc.
I guess keeping a tub of lube on hand at all times could have prevented that.

I read a story about a guy that was trying to haul away a dumpster full of junk from an isolated cabin by himself - and then something went wrong and the dumpster pinned his foot under the dumpster. Being alone and out of cell phone range of civilization, he gave up trying to free himself after about 30 minutes and cut his toes off.

Then he drove all the way to the nearest town to get medical attention - which seems like kind of a dumb thing to do. You'd think that once he was within cell phone range again, he would have stopped and called a tow truck.
 
BobG said:
That's why you should never work on a car alone.

Especailly if you are like one of my work colleagues. He was using a strobe light to sort out his car ignition timing. After he was done he noticed there was a patch of dirt on the timing pulley, so he got a rag and went to clean it off. Unfortunately he forgot that the engine was still running and strobe light was still on :

The good news was he failed to amputate any digits, but he needed some surgery to put all the internal bits and pieces of his hand back where they belonged.
 

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