h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

April fool, of course. Mary Poppins would always deny that she had done that!

I do prefer banisters without posts at the end, for health and safety reasons.

Last weekend I encountered a free fall banister (Nearly vertical, on the inside curve of a steep turning staircase)
Didn't try riding that one.

I think I'd give that one a miss, too.

How much do people use banisters?

I do, extensively. But I tend to walk with a stick when I go down the street. I have TMJ, and when things go out, they go out.

TMJ? You drink too much Java?

A lot would hinge on your jaw, but how does walking with a stick reduce your chances of becoming ... er ...unhinged?

It's hard to explain to anyone who doesn't have it. Let's try: jaw slips out, whole skeleton becomes maladjusted. A pain can start in, say, the second toe of my right foot. It meanders up one side and down the other, ending, say, three days later in my left thumb...

Like I said, it's complicated. It also means you can be walking and experience pains and get off balance, etc. Also, if I go places and people stand around and talk, my back starts to hurt a lot. Having something to lean on helps when there are no chairs anywhere.

Also good in waiting rooms. They have terrible chairs.

That doesn't sound good at all. Good luck with that.

Thanks! You just have to roll with it.

It's funny, none of the websites that I looked at mentioned the spread of pain to the rest of the body. No one thinks twice about seeing people with canes, though. You are probably getting lots of brownie points for style, Dmitri. Unlike in Victorian times, you will not be punished for doing things like raising your cane to make a point. It's all good. Maybe people will get up to let you have their seats on trains or buses.

Okay, it's unlikely that people will expect you to dance like Fred Astaire. But if they do, refuse because yo left your top hat and tails at home.

(Unless you really *want* to dance. It didn't sound as if you wanted to, but I'm leaving the matter open so as not to restrict you in any way.)

besides, a cane is very useful for reaching that last box of breakfast cereal at the back of the top shelf in the grocery store. Or snagging that lane divider when you're at the checkout aisle.

So, Dmitri, I think there are actually advantages to carrying a cane.

Not falling down on rough ground is the main one, Paul.

And yet I never succeeded in getting my father to sue one. He fell down on a sidewalk in front of CVS one time. I had brought him there so he could pick up a prescription. He was impatient. He *had* to get out of the car practically before I stopped. He was getting up on the sidewalk and falling (he apparently tripped) before I could even get the motor turned off .

Aw, yeah. My granddad always had one, as long as I knew him. He carved his own. His father-in-law, my great-grandfather, made his own on a lathe at the sawmill where he worked. I once gave my granddad the one I'd been using at college when I sprained my ankle. He was very proud of it.